Novelty architecture, also called programmatic architecture or mimetic architecture, is a type of architecture in which buildings and other structures are given unusual shapes for purposes such as advertising or to copy other famous buildings. Their size and novelty means that they often serve as landmarks. They are distinct from architectural follies, in that novelty architecture is essentially usable buildings in eccentric form whereas follies are non-usable, purely ornamental buildings also often in eccentric form.
U.S. Route 66, the historic east–west US highway between Chicago, Illinois and Santa Monica, California, passed through one brief segment in the southeastern corner of Kansas. It entered the state south of Baxter Springs and continued north until it crossed Brush Creek, from where it turned east and left the state in Galena. After the decertification of the highway in 1985, this road segment was numbered as US-69 (alternate) from Quapaw, Oklahoma north to Riverton, Kansas and as K-66 from Riverton east to Route 66 in Missouri.
U.S. Route 66 was a United States Numbered Highway in Illinois that connected St. Louis, Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois. The historic Route 66, the Mother Road or Main Street of America, took long distance automobile travelers from Chicago to Southern California. The highway had previously been Illinois Route 4 and the road has now been largely replaced with Interstate 55 (I-55). Parts of the road still carry traffic and six separate portions of the roadbed have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Teapot Dome Service Station is a former gas station built in the shape of a teapot located in Zillah, Washington, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Shell Service Station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is a former filling station constructed in 1930 following a decision in the 1920s by the new local Shell distributor, Quality Oil Company, to bring brand awareness to the market in Winston-Salem. The building is an example of representational or novelty architecture and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 13, 1976. It is located in the Waughtown-Belview Historic District at the corner of Sprague and Peachtree Streets.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Knox County, Tennessee.
The U-Drop Inn, also known as Tower Station and U-Drop Inn and Tower Café, was built in 1936 in Shamrock, Texas along the historic Route 66 highway in Wheeler County. Inspired by the image of a nail stuck in soil, the building was designed by J. C. Berry. An unusual example of art deco architecture applied to a gas station and restaurant, the building features two flared towers with geometric detailing, curvilinear massing, glazed ceramic tile walls, and neon light accents. It has traditionally held two separate business: "Tower Station," a gas station on the western side, and the "U-Drop Inn," a café on the eastern side. Though it has passed hands several times in its history, the building has consistently housed the same types of businesses it was originally constructed for.
The Providence Jewelry Manufacturing Historic District is a predominantly industrial historic district in Providence, Rhode Island. It covers a roughly 19-acre (7.7 ha) area in the city's Jewelry District, just south of Downtown Providence. While the area began as a residential neighborhood, it emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a center of Providence's jewelry manufacturing businesses. The oldest industrial building in the district is the 1848 Elm Street Machine Shop, a 2+1⁄2-story stone structure that now houses offices of Brown University.
The Jenny Lake Ranger Station Historic District comprises an area that was the main point of visitor contact in Grand Teton National Park from the 1930s to 1960. Located near Jenny Lake, the buildings are a mixture of purpose-built structures and existing buildings that were adapted for use by the National Park Service. The ranger station was built as a cabin by Lee Mangus north of Moose, Wyoming about 1925 and was moved and rebuilt around 1930 for Park Service use. A store was built by a concessioner, and comfort stations were built to Park Service standard plans. All buildings were planned to the prevailing National Park Service Rustic style, although the ranger station and the photo shop were built from parts of buildings located elsewhere in the park.
The Fossil Cabin near Medicine Bow, Wyoming, United States, was built in 1932 as a roadside attraction. The cabin is built of dinosaur bones excavated at nearby Como Bluff, using a total of 5,796 bones. The cabin was built as part of a gasoline filling station along US 30 by Thomas Boylan. Boylan had come from California to homestead in Wyoming and had been collecting bones for seventeen years, intending to create sculptures of dinosaurs in front of his house and gas station along the Lincoln Highway.
The Roundtop Filling Station, in Sherwood, Arkansas, United States, is one of only two structures in Sherwood to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the other being Sylvan Hills Country Club Golf Course.
The Jameson-Richards Cafe is a historic commercial building on Arkansas Highway 367 in Bald Knob, Arkansas. Built in the 1930s, it is a typical roadside cafe of that period, a single-story brick structure with English Revival features. It is T-shaped in plan, with half-timbered stucco gable ends above brick walls. Most of it windows are original casement, as is the French door that is the main entry. The cafe stands next to the similar Jameson-Richards Gas Station, another period roadside building.
The Jameson-Richards Gas Station is a historic automobile service station on Arkansas Highway 367 in Bald Knob, Arkansas. Built in the early 1930s, it is a typical period roadside service building, a single-story brick structure with English Revival styling. It is rectangular in plan, with a projecting porte-cochere that has Tudor style half-timbered stucco in its gable end. The main garage bays have original two-leaf swinging doors, and the office area has original multipane casement windows. It stands near the Jameson-Richards Cafe, a similar period roadside building.
Hy-Red Gasoline Station, also known as the Hy-Red Gulf Filling Station, is a historic filling station located at Greentown, Howard County, Indiana. It was built in 1930, and consists of two sections. They are a projecting canopy or porte cochere with a steeply pitched roof supported by four pillars and a one-story small office building. Both sections include multi-colored brown and beige glazed brick. From 1939 to about 1958 it operated as a Gulf Oil filling station and thereafter housed a number of commercial enterprises including a Hickory Farms cheese shop.
Richardson's Overland Trail Ranch is a complex of seven ranch buildings at the crossing of the Big Laramie River by the Overland Trail. The ranch's main residence was built as a stage station for the trail in 1862. A corduroy road was built at the same time. By 1864 ranching became established around the stage station, primarily by Tom Alsop, Edward Creighton and Charlie Hutton. With Creighton's death in 1874 the land was divided between Alsop on the west side of the river and Hutton on the east side. The ranch on the west side became known as the Heart or Hart Ranch. The ranches at the river crossing became part of the larger Riverside Livestock Company.
William Nowland Van Powell (1904–1977), sometimes known professionally as William Van Powell or Nowland Van Powell was an American architect, painter, and historian from Memphis, Tennessee.
The Greyhound Half-Way House at 124 E. Main Street in Waverly, Tennessee, United States, is a building formerly operated by Greyhound Lines as a Greyhound Half-Way Station.
The Pulver Brothers Filling Station is a former filling station located at 127 W. Grand River Avenue in Lansing, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
