Gulf Oil Distribution Facility

Six red brick and reinforced concrete buildings surround a central yard at 501 Second Avenue in Dallas. Built in 1921 as a Gulf Oil sales center and warehouse, the complex sits beside railroad tracks, where oil and gas were pumped from rail cars into storage tanks, then into trucks or barrels for regional distribution. The tanks and a seventh building have since been removed. The surviving buildings share low stepped parapets with terra cotta coping, exposed concrete framing and steel windows. Building B, the largest, has two stories and retains a painted Gulf Oil sign. Other buildings housed garages, repair shops, a print shop and a cooper shop for barrels. Gulf Oil used the site until the late 1950s, after which a forklift repair company occupied it until the mid-1980s. Later uses have included theater, offices and event space. The district was listed for its link to the growth of the oil industry in Dallas in the early twentieth century.