The Utopian Design Behind the Frank Lloyd Wright Service Station
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CLOQUET - Stopping at a gas station might just be part of your daily routine, but by stopping at the R.W. Lindholm service station in Cloquet, you'll be sharing in a piece of history.
Commissioned in 1956 and constructed in 1958, the station is designed after Broadacre, a utopian city designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
"His designs were organic they referred to them, wanting to bring in the outside and wanting to use unusual designs that would blend with nature, or the surroundings," said John McKinney, President of Best Oil.
Wright liked the idea of community and put in a lounge area for just that looking over the St. Louis River Valley.
"Wright viewed the service stations, convenience stores, would be the center of, particularly of, small towns where people met, got coffee, cigarettes, newspaper in the morning," said McKinney.
However, the lounge was never really utilized because of the busy lifestyle we live in today.
"One of the unique features that was not able to be brought into the station is Wright wanted to have the gasoline hoses and everything hang down from the canopy," explained McKinney.
This idea didn't sit well with the fire marshal.
A few unique features that did make it to construction are the skylights over each work station.
"Which is kind of ingenious in some ways 'cause all of a sudden you have this good, natural light coming in to the station right over the engine area so the mechanics working on cars had nice, natural, bright light," said McKinney.
The copper canopy catches anyone's eye.
"The cantilevered canopy many people thought when they saw it being built in '58 thought that it would collapse under weight of snow and so forth," said McKinney.
However, that wasn't the case and the canopy stood the test of time.
According to engineers, the canopy is still in near perfect condition.
"I think Wright is definitely, if not the most famous, one of the foremost architects of the country, but of the world," said McKinney.
Making a busy corner in Cloquet, a world-wide attraction.
"I think we're very fortunate to have some of the buildings in this area of the country," McKinney said.
The Frank Lloyd Wright service station has been on the Register of Historical Places since 1985.