{"nrhp_refnum":"76001322","name":"Shell Service Station","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Sprague and Peachtree Sts., NW","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winston-Salem","county":"Forsyth County","state":"NC","lat":36.06781543200003,"lon":-80.21401589099997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Art","Invention"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A small, one-story concrete service station in the form of a giant shell, built about 1930 at Sprague and Peachtree Streets in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina.","why_significant":"The station was built to advertise and sell Shell Oil, and its form literally reproduces the Shell trademark. The nomination presents it as a vestige of 1930s advertising literalism and as a vernacular forerunner of Pop architecture. It is the only known survivor of about eight similar stations built in the Winston-Salem area.","narrative":"At the corner of Sprague and Peachtree Streets in Winston-Salem stands a gas station shaped like a giant shell. Built about 1930, the one-story concrete structure rises roughly eighteen feet, with a central front entrance and deeply recessed six-over-one windows in its curving sides. A small wooden shed and brick chimney stack are attached at the rear. According to the son of an original owner, builders boxed in the office, wrapped it in a wire frame, and applied concrete like stucco, forming the ridges with a hose. The Quality Oil Company, founded in 1929 to distribute Shell products, built about eight such stations in the Winston-Salem area to attract customers in a market new to Shell. This is the only one known to survive. It was listed because it shows how literal 1930s advertising could be, with a building that works as a three-dimensional trademark, and because it illustrates the vernacular roots of later Pop architecture.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Contractor: Frank L. Blume & Co. (also given as Frank L. Blum and Company)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and unaltered, occupied, and now used as a lawnmower and small engine repair shop.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.636963-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/7202/47720242/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/76001322.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001322/717a4e4da0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001322/717a4e4da0-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"David Bjorgen","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shell_Station-1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">David Bjorgen</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shell_Station-1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720242","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_Service_Station_(Winston-Salem,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7493692"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/forsyth-county/shell-service-station-76001322/"}