The 12 Coolest Gas Stations in the World

If ever there was a building that gets zero love when it comes to design (even with all that oil money), it's the homely gas station. All utility. No aesthetics.

But over the years, more than a few companies -- not to mention some famous architects -- have taken their best shot at building a service station worthy of design accolades. Here are 12 of the coolest that are still in use.

arne jacobson gas station
flickr/anders illum

Skovshoved Petrol Station

Copenhagen, Denmark
Designed in 1937 by Arne Jacobson -- a famous Danish architect most well-known for his spartan chairs -- this minimalist, Meissen-tiled station still looks modern today.

united oil gas station
flickr/jory

United Oil Station

Los Angeles, CA
This $6.5 million-dollar LA gas station -- built in 2009 out of glass, stainless steel, and concrete -- features a swooping, 8,100sqft canopy designed to resemble the city's iconic freeway overpasses.

jack colker gas station
flickr/thomas hawk

Jack Colker Union 76 

Beverly Hills, CA
The slanted triangular roof was built in 1965 as part of LAX airport, but was converted into a gas station when it proved superfluous. It’s now a prime example of “Googie architecture" -- Jetsons-like structures inspired by the Space Age.

R. W. Lindholm Service Station
flickr/benjamin peterson

R. W. Lindholm Service Station

Cloquet, MN
It might not look like much, but this service station was way ahead of its time when it went up in 1958. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the station was one of the few pieces of his grand, utopian plan for a city of the future (Broadacre City, look it up) that actually got built.

gas galanta
flickr/ned trifle

Red Hill Filling Station

Leicestershire, UK
This futuristic gas station, which looks like a bunch of psychedelic 'shrooms, was designed by American architect Eliot Noyes in the 1960s. His "Pegasus" style was meant to reflect the joy of driving, as well as create recognizable Mobil stations that required no signage. While around 20,000 of them were built by the 1980s, this English spot run by Esso is the last one left... in the world.

helios house
flickr/c-monster

Helios House

Los Angeles, CA
Attracting visitors with its shiny, futuristic, faux Frank Ghery facade, Helios House is considered “the gas station of the future.” The First LEED-certified station in the US, it's roof is covered with solar panels and cacti (to collect rainwater), which reduces the building's need for heating and cooling and cuts energy consumption by 16%.

tank and cut
Tank and Cut

Tank + Cut

Konstanz, Germany
Ever been filling up your tank and thought, "You know what, I could really use a haircut right now"? And then you walked inside and had them take a little off the top? Of course not, unless you live in Konstanz, Germany. Apparently a German need for efficiency has led to this chainlet of hybrid gas stations-slash-barber shops, which hopes to add another 100 locations this year.

gas station
flickr/colinwood0

Orbit Gas Station

Orange Vale, CA
With pointy tips that jut out at crazy angles, these winged behemoths are another example of the aforementioned space-aged, "Googie" architecture. Once ubiquitous, today only a handful of these stations remain around the country.

norman foster gas station
flickr/Philippe Brysse (with permission)

Repsol service station

Across Spain
Like a modern update on the "Pegasus" look, these stations designed by Foster + Partners (as in Norman Foster) feature clusters of attention-grabbing red, yellow, and orange canopies that resemble trees. 

fiat
flickr/david stanley

Fiat Tagliero

Asmara, Eritrea
Sent by Mussolini to this former Italian colony, Italian Art Deco and Futurist architect Giuseppe Pettazzi designed this airplane-inspired gas station. Legend has it that he reportedly forced skeptical workers to build the “wings” without the use of pillars at gunpoint, as they believed it would collapse otherwise. It did not, and still stands today.

gas galanta
atelier sad/Tomáš Soucek

Gas Galanta

Galanta, Slovakia 
Czech architectural firm Atelier SAD created this super-sleek Slovak station out of concrete and timber. Again, it seems like a modern twist on one of Eliot Noyes’ ‘60s designs.

lake gas station
flickr/gord mckenna

Chevron Floating Station

Vancouver, Canada
Ok, this one's not necessarily cool for its design, per se (it's pretty much just a floating dock), but check out that view!


Sophie-Claire Hoeller is Thrillist's über-efficient German associate travel editor, and has had frequent flyer status since she was born in a Lufthansa terminal. Follow her @Sohostyle