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Tuomy Hills Gas Station, 1928

Tuomy Hills Gas Station, 1928 image
Year
1928
Description

2460 Washtenaw Avenue

Tuomy Hills Gas Station, 1928
Creator: Carson, Frank

The local architectural firm of Fry and Kasurin designed this gas station in 1928, aided by Chicago landscape designer O.C. Simonds, who had also designed the Ann Arbor Parks System and the original Nichols Arboretum. Local businessman Cornelius "Bill" Tuomy had it built in a residential style to show that a business could blend gracefully into a residential area. Long a beloved landmark, it not only blends in, but enhances the point where two prominent Ann Arbor roads converge. Architectural scholars see it now as a unique remnant of the American roadside.

The structure most resembles an English gatekeeper's cottage, with its heavy masonry walls sixteen inches thick--eight inches of brick faced with eight inches of stone. With an eighteen inch thick concrete floor, a heavy slate roof, and sturdy hand-hewn oak pillars supporting the roofs of its two porte-cocheres, it was built to last for centuries.

Tuomy and his sister Kathryn had inherited the large Tuomy farm on Washtenaw, famous for its horses and dairy cattle. They went into business together as Tuomy and Tuomy, selling real estate and insurance. Their offices were in a little building behind their "Tuomy Hills" gas station, a name which refers to the subdivision they developed from their farm's vast acreage.

In 1928, with a new bypass (Stadium Boulevard) in the offing, they decided the area needed a gas station and built one to be a credit to the city. The Standard Oil Company, which leased the station, was so proud of it they displayed a model of it at the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago in 1933. When Mr. Tuomy died in 1966, Standard Oil (now Amoco) acquired ownership of the building. In 1988 Amoco closed the station and boarded up the building. The continuing deep concern of local residents made it clear that demolition was not an option. Now for sale, the future of Ann Arbor's famous "gateway" finally looks much brighter.

Rights Held By
Photos used to illustrate Historic Buildings, Ann Arbor, Michigan / by Marjorie Reade and Susan Wineberg.