Friday, December 17, 2010

Death of the Modernist Service Station - Launceston


One clear difference compared to just a decade ago, is the lack of independent family run Service Stations. Regular viewers of my blog would have seen many posts now from Tasmania that document abandoned Service Stations. There is a loss on 2 levels going on here, a loss of consumer diversity and a loss of Modernist designed stations. The irony is that to many they are so common as we go about filling our cars up and buying the local paper, but as the days, months and year's go by the sight of the Service Station fades.

3 comments:

  1. I was coming home from work on Friday evening and ran out of petrol. The five petrol station that had been closest to my home when we moved into this house have all been closed, destroyed, built on. In the end, I had to drive 4.5 ks away, in an inner suburb of Melbourne :(

    I think Deco was as well suited for petrol stations as it was for picture theates - modern, sleek, full of dynamic movement.

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  2. I think it is happening all over the world. It is so rare to find an independent servo these days. Plenty for the bigger oil companies with their nondescript architecture.

    Same on the Interstate Highways in the US. The architecture is the same they just need to change the signs if a new company takes over.

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  3. So very true the comments you raise Helen and David.

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About the project

Join me (Thomas Ryan Photography) on a photographic project documenting Tasmanian 20th Century Modernism from the 1930's to the 1980's. The entire project gallery of 1000+ images and counting can be viewed on my website www.tryanphotos.com under art projects. I have been undertaking this project for over a decade.

My portfolio of commercial and art projects can be seen on my website www.tryanphotos.com and I can be contacted here as well. All photographs are copyright of Thomas Ryan Photography. Unauthorised use is prohibited. Contact me for all enquires

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