Untitled (Cities Service gas station) c. 1945

Robert Burian made this photograph of a Cities Service gas station in the United States, and although we don’t have a firm date for its making, the pictured automobile suggests a time between the mid-1930s and early 40s. With its symmetrical facade, stylized logo, and streamlined pumps, this gas station offers an excellent example of the industrial design movement of that era. But the image is more than a simple record of a roadside commercial space. By presenting the gas station as a kind of period piece, we can ask questions about America’s burgeoning car culture during the interwar years and the social and spatial effects of an increasingly mobile populace. The photograph has a documentary quality and evokes a nostalgic view of small-town America on the eve of World War Two. To explore such questions more fully, we might examine company archives, period trade publications, or even the photography of Walker Evans. It is through this kind of historical research that the meaning of the image can be more fully understood.