Peerless Gas Station
Projects: Historic Preservation
Peerless Gas Station
ADDRESS:
801 S. Yarrow Street, Lakewood,
ARCHITECT:
Form + Works
YEAR OF COMPLETION:
2024
PROJECT SIZE:
800 SF
OWNER:
City of Lakewood
SUMMARY:
Restoration of an original gas station constructed by the Peerless Sheet Metal Works that was relocated to the Heritage Lakewood Park in the mid 2000.
Joseph Rosenthal’s Peerless Sheet Metal Works company constructed prefabricated sheet metal buildings from 1926 until 1963. In the mid-1910s and 1920s, many of the major gasoline brands marketed their own prefabricated gas stations, but the Peerless Gas Station represented instead a simple box design form. Similar to the Oblong Box-Type building but without any attached garage bays, these stations with flat roofs featured large plate glass windows and were prevalent in the 1930s and 1940s. This building exhibits several characteristics of the Moderne architectural style: emphasis on the horizontal, streamline effect (especially the “speed lines” along the cornice and bottom of the façade), rounded edges and corners, and steel-frame metal windows. Beyond these details, Moderne buildings lack ornamentation. In Colorado, this style of building was most prevalent during the 1930s and 1940s.
Spectrum’s team restored the original metal siding, windows, and neon accents.
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