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All the United States North Carolina Winston-Salem The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station

The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station

This bright yellow relic is the final survivor of a short burst of seashell-shaped petrol pumps.

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Added By
Susan Harlan
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The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   Anjohnst/CC BY-SA 4.0
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station   Ian Joyce on Flickr
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   croxrd13 / Atlas Obscura User
Sign outside the shell station.   croxrd13 / Atlas Obscura User
  s4dppjbhxc / Atlas Obscura User
Holy shit, there’s someone in there!! I was startled by this mannequin because I saw another photo of the interior and it wasn’t there.   aredtailhawk1 / Atlas Obscura User
June 13, 2023   aredtailhawk1 / Atlas Obscura User
Inside the station   Welseen / Atlas Obscura User
  Traveler Tim / Atlas Obscura User
3-16-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
3-16-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   rubeodos / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   croxrd13 / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
  Collector of Experiences / Atlas Obscura User
The shell station   Welseen / Atlas Obscura User
3-16-21   Darrell Powers / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   sarahdawne68 / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   anjohnst / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   picguy311 / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   Rindy99 / Atlas Obscura User
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station.   picguy311 / Atlas Obscura User
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Although Winston-Salem, North Carolina is known more for tobacco than oil, it is home to the last Shell Oil clamshell station in the United States. Located on the quiet corner of Sprague and Peachtree Streets, the station sits abandoned, its two tall pumps now no more than curiosities.

In the 1930s, a local distributor of Shell called Quality Oil built seven stations in Winston-Salem and one in the nearby town of Kernersville. Joe Glenn and Bert Bennett, who had acquired the distribution, erected the clamshells as advertisements; their quirkiness intended to draw customers.

The clamshell stations represented the transformation of a brand into a building, a symbol into a real thing. When Raymond Loewy designed the current Shell symbol in 1971, it had already gone though many incarnations. Although the original 1901 brand for the London-based Shell Transport and Trading Company was a mussel shell, by 1904 the scallop shell was introduced – possibly from the family coat of arms of the company’s founder Marcus Samuel, whose business would merge with Royal Dutch Petroleum Company to form Royal Dutch-Shell Oil. Samuel had a habit of naming his tankers after different kinds of shells, and he had a background importing objects from the Far East, including beautiful shells.

It wasn’t easy to make shell-shaped gas stations. The office and bathroom area were boxed in, surrounded by a bent wood and wire frame, and then covered in stucco. This last station remained open until the 1950s and housed a lawn mower repair business in the 1970s and 80s. In 1976, it became the first individual station in America to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Formerly a regional office for Preservation North Carolina, now the clamshell is a shrine to itself. On the walls inside hang framed newspaper articles about its opening and a clamshell station calendar. Antique black-and-white photographs line the shelves, which also display a teddy bear, old Shell signs, a coffee mug, miscellaneous antique cans, and a tin of vintage Monkey Grip Patch. A coffee table book has been left open to a picture of the station. In one corner sits an antique red container labeled Shell.

Preservation North Carolina still holds protective covenants on the property, so the clamshell will be preserved in perpetuity.

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Roadside Attractions Novelty Architecture Architectural Oddities Architecture

Know Before You Go

The store is on the corner of the Peachtree St. and East Sprague St.

Community Contributors

Added By

seh256

Edited By

vincentpaparella, nicolaspratt, EricGrundhauser, Anika Burgess...

  • vincentpaparella
  • nicolaspratt
  • EricGrundhauser
  • Anika Burgess
  • anjohnst
  • picguy311
  • Collector of Experiences
  • Traveler Tim
  • sarahdawne68
  • Rindy99
  • rubeodos
  • croxrd13
  • Darrell Powers
  • PixelEpix
  • Welseen
  • vollmerwjohn
  • aredtailhawk1
  • s4dppjbhxc
  • katecoast59

Published

January 23, 2015

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  • http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/11631
The Last Shell Oil Clamshell Station
1111 E Sprague St
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27107
United States
36.067692, -80.214106
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