HA-1556

Aberdeen Esso Service Station, site

Architectural Survey File

This is the architectural survey file for this MIHP record. The survey file is organized reverse-

chronological (that is, with the latest material on top). It contains all MIHP inventory forms, National

Register nomination forms, determinations of eligibility (DOE) forms, and accompanying documentation

such as photographs and maps.

Users should be aware that additional undigitized material about this property may be found in on-site

architectural reports, copies of HABS/HAER or other documentation, drawings, and the “vertical files” at

the MHT Library in Crownsville. The vertical files may include newspaper clippings, field notes, draft

versions of forms and architectural reports, photographs, maps, and drawings. Researchers who need a

thorough understanding of this property should plan to visit the MHT Library as part of their research

project; look at the MHT web site (mht.maryland.gov) for details about how to make an appointment.

All material is property of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Last Updated: 02-03-2017

HA-1556 c. 1930 Aberdeen Esso Service Station Aberdeen Private

The Aberdeen Esso Service Station is an unaltered example of the early gas stations which were built during the era of automobile proliferation between the World Wars. The decorative corbels of the canopy are a vestige of the high style architecture of the Beaux Arts school and may be an attempt by the designer to legitimize the service station as a permanent aesthetic form.

MARYLAND HISTORICAL TRUST HA - 1556

MAGI # 1315565811

NAME

INVENTORY FORM FOR STATE HISTORIC SITES SURVEY

HISTORIC

AND/OR COMMON

Aberdeen Esso Service Stat ion

LOCATION STREETS. NUMBER

NE cr. U.S. 40 and Bel Air Avenue CITY. TOWN

Aberdeen CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

VICINITY OF

Maryland COUNTY

Harford

CLASSIFICATION

CATEGORY —DISTRICT

**.BUILDING(S)

—STRUCTURE

_SITE

—OBJECT

OWNERSHIP —PUBLIC

J^RIVATE

—BOTH

PUBLIC ACQUISITION _ I N PROCESS

—BEING CONSIDERED

STATUS -XOCCUPIED

—UNOCCUPIED

—WORK IN PROGRESS

ACCESSIBLE —YES: RESTRICTED

J^YES: UNRESTRICTED

_ N O

PRESENT USE —AGRICULTURE

X.COMMERCIAL

—EDUCATIONAL

—ENTERTAINMENT

—GOVERNMENT

—INDUSTRIAL

—MILITARY

—MUSEUM

—PARK

—PRIVATE RESIDENCE

—RELIGIOUS

—SCIENTIFIC

—TRANSPORTATION

—OTHER:

OWNER OF PROPERTY NAME

Milton Ustaszewski Te lephone # ; (301) 838-8858 STREET & NUMBER

503 Ponderosa Drive STATE , z i p code"

Maryland 21014 CITY. TOWN

Bel Air VICINITY OF

LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC Harford County Courthouse

Liber #: Folio #:

STREETS. NUMBER

CITY, TOWN

Bel Air STATE

Maryland

REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE

DATE

DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS

CITY. TOWN

—FEDERAL —STATE —COUNTY —LOCAL

STATE

DESCRIPTION HA-1556

•^.EXCELLENT

—GOOD

_FAIR

CONDITION

—DETERIORATED

_RUINS

—UNEXPOSED

CHECK ONE CHECK ONE

—UNALTERED J&RIGfNAL SITE

.XALTERED —MOVED DATE

DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

The Aberdeen Esso Service Station is a concrete roadside automobile service station built about 1930 and located on the northeast corner of U.S. 40 and Bel Air Avenue in Aberdeen, Maryland.

The building, facing west across U.S. 40, is a one-story office with a covered driveway and gas pump island. A hipped tile roof covers the entire structure. The exterior is stucco.

The office section has plate glass windows facing the paved service area on the north, west, and south. A series of small square panes above a transom bar tops each window. The restrooms are behind the office area and are reached by separate outside doors on the north and south elevations. The doorways are placed within blind molded arches in the stucco. The overhanging roof of the driveway has foliated scroll corbels. The soffit of the overhang is covered with pressed metal sheets in a square-within-square pattern.

A three-bay garage of later date adjoins the office building on the north.

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

SIGNIFICANCE HA-1556

PERIOD —PREHISTORIC

— 1400-1499

— 1500-1599

— 1600-1699

— 1700-1799

—1800 1899

_J<900-

AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE - CHI —ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC

—ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC

—AGRICULTURE

-^ARCHITECTURE

—ART

—COMMERCE

—COMMUNICATIONS

SPECIFIC DATES C. 1930

—COMMUNITY PLANNING

—CONSERVATION

—ECONOMICS

—EDUCATION

—ENGINEERING

—EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT

—INDUSTRY

—INVENTION

ECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW —LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

_LAW

—LITERATURE

—MILITARY

—MUSIC

—PHILOSOPHY

—POLITICS/GOVERNMENT

BUILDER/ARCHITECT

—RELIGION

—SCIENCE

—SCULPTURE

—SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN

—THEATER

^TRANSPORTATION

—OTHER (SPECIFY)

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

The Aberdeen Esso Service Station is an unaltered example of the early gas stations which were built during the era of automobile proliferation between the World Wars. The architecture of these stations is clearly an outgrowth of the needs of the auto­mobile traveler: simple office functions, covered service area, public restrcoms, and convenient access to gas pumps and the main highway. The decorative corbels of the Aberdeen Esso Station are a vestige of the high-style architecture of the Beaux-Arts school, a period drawing to a close at the time of the station's construction. They may be interpreted as an attempt to legitimize the service station as a permanent aesthetic form, the designer using recognizable features of a more established style in the absence of an evolved gas station architectural vocabulary.

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES HA-1556

CONTINUE ON SEPARATE SHEET IF NECESSARY

GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY

VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES

STATE COUNTY

STATE

FORM PREPARED BY NAME/TITLE

Janet Davis, MHT/SHA Surveyor ORGANIZATION

Maryland H i s t o r i c a l Trust STREETS NUMBER

21 State C i r c l e CITY OR TOWN

Annapolis

COUNTY ••

December 1 1 , 1980 DATE

(301) 269-2438 TELEPHONE

STATE

Maryland 21401

The Maryland Historic Sites Inventory was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature, to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA, 1974 Supplement.

The Survey and Inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only and do not constitute any infringe­ment of individual property rights.

RETURN TO: Maryland Historical Trust The Shaw House, 21 State Circle Annapolis, Maryland 21401 (301) 267-1438

PS- 1108

HA-1556 Aberdeen Esso Service Station, site 3 North Philadelphia Boulevard (US 40), Aberdeen Sanborn Map, 1950, Sheet 2

HA-1556 Aberdeen Essa Service Station , site 3 North Philadelphia Boulevard (US 40) , Aberdeen Aberdeen quad, 1953 (Photorevised 1985)