Comments on: Urban Blight: It’s a Gas!

By: Walkable Eastwood » Blog Archive » A gas station used to be there

Walkable Eastwood » Blog Archive » A gas station used to be there — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:55:38 +0000

[...] this article, Urban Blight: It’s a Gas!, you’ll see quite a variety of gas stations, all of which have been built and which make [...]

By: Kate McDonnell

Kate McDonnell — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 05:15:04 +0000

I have to note with a touch of sadness that the Station service M.G., corner Saint-Denis and Guizot, pictured above, was demolished this week to make way for a condo project.

By: bas

bas — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 16:40:03 +0000

even more intense at night.
see link here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51506760@N00/157088288/in/set-72157594145221595/

By: gas stations a new building of interest? « urban-ism

gas stations a new building of interest? « urban-ism — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 02:34:52 +0000

[...] dedicated to the ubiquitous form that appears everywhere in North America. Urbanphoto has written a great article on the gas station’s creeping influence on Montreal – there is a lament for great [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 22 May 2007 16:45:30 +0000

Does anyone know what is happening to the site of the old gas station that was on Sherbrooke (I think near Clifton) in NDG?

By: Ian Rogers

Ian Rogers — Tue, 22 May 2007 15:59:14 +0000

Interesting you should single out the gas station on St. Laurent & Sherbrooke as an example of intrusiveness, there’s actually been a gas station on that spot at least since the 30’s. Not that I bring this up to defend its lack of aesthetic appeal, but rather to point out that this phenomenon is not particulary new.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/greynotgrey/232387372/in/set-1308018/

By: clive

clive — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:17:32 +0000

Does anyone know why the station at Rachel and deBullion (just east of the main) closed and what will take its place?

By: jr

jr — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:05:52 +0000

Thanks for the article. My question, as a new resident of the city/province/country is; from whom do we demand such changes? I’ve heard recent grumblings about the new transport plan and I have an interest in transportation planning but in trying to educate myself how things get done around here, I get easily confused, discouraged and completely thwarted by the beaurocracies in place. Maybe you could point to some emails where people can at least voice their opinions and have some involvement.
In Arizona, where I used to live, many petrol stations were shut down by the state in recent years when owners could not afford to ensure/insure that site contamination would be remediated. Good: that toxic sites are getting cleaned, even at taxpayers expense. Bad: that these, often smaller stations, give way to large “convenience” stations like you see at Sherbrooke and St. Laurent. (only really, REALLY big to fit the absurd scale that cars consume in life in Arizona).
It seems to me that Montreal has the opportunity by its geography to be largely car-free. The population needs to lead that direction. It’s a generalization, but the people here in Quebec seem to value quality of life over the quest for income. What better quality of life than to be car free?
There are multiday, multicity, organized conventions on petrol/convenience store franchising put on by the major players whose interest is in divying up major population centers in order to increase profitability. It’s not a secret, it’s just business and it’s happening because people keep driving. All you have to do is make some conscious decisions to protect your quality of life.

By: Zvi

Zvi — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:17:36 +0000

In general in Europe, urban gas stations are very small and not very noticeable (probably because there are just so few of them). I walked all over Lisbon last month, and can only recall seeing one gas station (which was similar to what Chris described in Paris)!

Anyway, one welcome trend in Montreal is that more and more gas stations are in fact being removed and converted into other uses. Quite a few Park Ave and Van Horne gas stations are now condos. Now if only they would start doing this closer to the metro stations….

By: Esso backwards is ossé at Fagstein

Esso backwards is ossé at Fagstein — Mon, 21 May 2007 22:02:15 +0000

[...] Kate McDonnell has some words (and photos) about downtown gas stations, calling them “urban [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:56:05 +0000

The Mies gas station got a “beautiful but unusable” designation from Jean Belisle when I took his Architecture and Urbanism in Montreal course.

Petro Canada strikes me as having tried to design a nice gas station (with brick-lined beds of shrubs by the sidewalk), but unfortunately only designed it once, so all their stations of a certain vintage or renovation date are clones sitting there ignoring their surroundings.

By: Dan

Dan — Mon, 21 May 2007 19:34:21 +0000

An increasing number of city and suburban governments in the US are adopting architectural and site planning requirements for commercial uses. Regulations for gas stations often incorporate the following:

* High quality materials are required: brick, masonry, hardy board, or something more granular and organic than tilt-up concrete or pre-fabricated metal.
* Primary colors cannot be used for the building’s dominant color.
* Vehicle service areas and bays must be sited so visibility from the street is as low as possible
* Co-branded uses must be architecturally integrated into the building.
* Canopy fascias must be the same color as the dominant color of the main building; internal illumination, striping and banding and primary colors is prohibited.
* Canopy pole covers must be brick or masonry; not sheet metal.
* Canopies must include design elements found on the main building, including color, materials and roof pitch.
* Under-canopy lighting must be flush to the ceiling.
* Reverse frontage (building in front, canopy in rear) for sites in an urban context.
* Unrelieved pavement area on the site must be broken up using landscaping, contrasting colors and banding, or areas surfaced by brick pavers or textured concrete.
* Outdoor storage areas, trash containers, tank vent pipes and vending machines must be screened.
* Temporary displays such as a-frame signs and banners on light poles are prohibited.
* Piped music and loud beeping and screeching alerts are prohibited.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:33:29 +0000

The other problem is that when these urban gas stations do close, there is no law/procedure in place to ensure that someone (Esso, municipal govt., provincial govt., …) covers the cost of decontaminating the soil so something else can be built. I wonder if this problem has been tackled efficiently elsewhere.

I’m not sure if our over-prudent laws about soil contamination/security would allow the construction of parisian-style gas stations.

I agree about the garish designs being innapropriate in an urban setting, but not sure I agree about the dépanneurs. I think it’s our responsibility as shoppers to decide where we shop. Given the choice, I’ll buy my pint of milk at a dépanneur that adds something to the urban environment than at a suburban gas station in the middle of downtown

Speaking of garish designs, some of the bars on lower Saint-Laurent give these gas stations a good run for their money.

By: Kate McDonnell

Kate McDonnell — Mon, 21 May 2007 03:47:43 +0000

I’d settle for bland and unremarkable. It’s huge, garish, overly lit up and gigantically out of proportion to the surrounding urban fabric that I have a problem with.