Smith and Williams: Mobil Service Station (Anaheim, Calif.)

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Description

The design of this Mobil station solved the requirements for auto maneuverability on a tight site with modern engineering. Smith and Williams hung four canopies of open web steel on poles to shelter gas pumps, the service area, rest rooms, and the office. Equally impressive was its translation of marketing needs into design; the pumps were labeled with large, easily visible lettering; kiosks for selling tires and oil were clustered in a protected pedestrian island.
Smith and Williams commissioned the artist Millard Sheets to design a large red Pegasus (the Mobil brand symbol), for the top of the sign. Albert Stewart sculpted the figure.

Creator

Smith and Williams, architects
Julius Shulman, photographer

Source

Smith & Williams records, Architecture and Design Collection. Art, Design & Architecture Museum; University of California, Santa Barbara.

Date

circa 1955

Rights

© J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10)

Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. University of California Regents.

Collection

Citation

Smith and Williams, architects Julius Shulman, photographer, “Smith and Williams: Mobil Service Station (Anaheim, Calif.),” UCSB ADC Omeka, accessed March 28, 2024, http://www.adc-exhibits.museum.ucsb.edu/items/show/540.