A building doesn’t have to be large to be architecturally significant. A gas station built in 1964 on State Street in Boise has made a big splash recently among people who appreciate mid-century modern architecture.
According to Dan Everheart of the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, In 1956, Clarence Reinhardt, the corporate architect for Phillips Petroleum, began to experiment with dramatic V-shaped canopies at the company’s branded filling stations. By 1960, a harlequin paint scheme and Reinhardt’s “bat wing” canopy were launched as the “New Look” of the Phillips architectural brand. Phillips 66 station in Boise was one example.
State Street is also SH 44, so the station was called the Forty-Four and Sixty-Six Service Station. It only lasted as a gas station for about ten years. Milan and Blazena Kral purchased the building in 1977 and operated a German car repair shop there for 20 years. The Krals were defectors from Soviet Czechoslovakia who made a new life in Boise. Their son and daughter-in-law rehabilitated the building in 2020.
The building now houses Design Vim, a sustainable design company.
Preservation Idaho gave an Orchid award to the redevelopment project in 2020. It's also on the cover of a recent report from the National Park Service about the success of the Federal Historic Tax Credit program. The owners of the building received the tax credit for restoration. You can read more about it by downloading the federal report here.
According to Dan Everheart of the Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, In 1956, Clarence Reinhardt, the corporate architect for Phillips Petroleum, began to experiment with dramatic V-shaped canopies at the company’s branded filling stations. By 1960, a harlequin paint scheme and Reinhardt’s “bat wing” canopy were launched as the “New Look” of the Phillips architectural brand. Phillips 66 station in Boise was one example.
State Street is also SH 44, so the station was called the Forty-Four and Sixty-Six Service Station. It only lasted as a gas station for about ten years. Milan and Blazena Kral purchased the building in 1977 and operated a German car repair shop there for 20 years. The Krals were defectors from Soviet Czechoslovakia who made a new life in Boise. Their son and daughter-in-law rehabilitated the building in 2020.
The building now houses Design Vim, a sustainable design company.
Preservation Idaho gave an Orchid award to the redevelopment project in 2020. It's also on the cover of a recent report from the National Park Service about the success of the Federal Historic Tax Credit program. The owners of the building received the tax credit for restoration. You can read more about it by downloading the federal report here.
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