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Mobil Valewood Service Station

Location

Cnr Wanda & Valewood Streets,, MULGRAVE VIC 3170 - Property No B6897

File Number

B6897

Level

Demolished/Removed

Statement of Significance

The Valewood Service Station, built in 1967, is the first Australian example of Mobil's "natural look" stations which introduced brown brick panels to the standard oblong box plan from the previous decade in an attempt to blend into the surrounding environment. Adapted by local architect Stuart Winston-Hall, the service station originated from the 1964 prototype of US architect and industrial designer Eliot Noyes, whose design was eventually adapted worldwide by the company in some 19,000 stations. The distinctive circular canopies and circular brushed aluminium pumps were also designed by Noyes. The Mobil Valewood Service Station is of architectural, historical and social significance to the State of Victoria. The service station is architecturally, historically and socially important as the Australian prototype for what is perhaps the Mobil Oil Company's most successful station design. Many examples followed, though few now survive to this degree of intactness. The complex effectively duplicates Mobil's elements to present a unified corporate identity. The streamlined circular and oblong shapes exhibit an exceptionally successful industrial design aesthetic.
Classified: 06/07/1998

Group