When Mies van der Rohe was hired to design a Nuns’ Island gas station, no one knew what to expect. But the great architect came up with a design that was simple, plain and functional. Just like his other works, which in Montreal comprised a set of three highrise apartment buildings, also on Nuns’ Island, and Westmount Square. Designed in 1968, a year before his death, the Esso station was one of van der Rohe's last works.

The full-service station thrived for four decades as part of the apartment and town house complex designed by van der Rohe’s Chicago firm in the 1960s. Then, in 2008, owner Imperial Oil built a new self-serve station with car wash in the island’s commercial district. Since then, the masterpiece sat boarded up and forlorn, with the inevitable graffiti splashed on its crumbling yellow brick wall.

A new project is underway to restore the structure and convert it into a Maison des générations, a social centre for teens and seniors. I recently visited the site to check in on the status of the construction, and to see if the “most beautiful gas station in the world” can find new purpose.

Joy At The Pump

When the building was used to service motorists, it was a thrill it was to drive in to one of Montreal’s finest examples of modern architecture and fill ’er up. Unlike the narrow utilitarian islands that is the industry standard, Van der Rohe’s single island was square and with a pump on each side. In the middle stood the attendant’s glass booth, and across one lane was a larger glass office and store. At the opposite end sat a big, yellow-brick garage with floor-to-ceiling glass and black-steel doors. Twelve black steel pillars support a grid of black steel girders over which the long, black canopy rests. The whole plaza was lit at night from fluorescent tubes mounted under the roof that created a modern oasis of light.

Van der Rohe’s gas station had so little in common with the garish branding motorists expected that eventually the oil company had to place a large logo in front to communicate what the low, dark sculpture really was.

When the station was closed in 2008, leaders of Montreal’s architecture and heritage community discussed what to do with it. No one wanted to see this structure torn down or left to crumble.

Phyllis Lambert – whose family, the Bronfmans, hired Van der Rohe to design their Seagram Building in New York – suggested that a flower market would look stunning under the sprawling, cantilever roof. Dinu Bimbaru of Heritage Montreal, who feared that the work’s architectural value could be easily compromised, proposed a pit stop for cyclists.

The site was saved in June 2009, when the city declared it an historic monument. In 2009 the borough of Verdun decided it would become a Maison des générations. At a press conference held in April, Verdun borough mayor Claude Trudel announced a $1.67 million plan to restore the exterior and fit the interior spaces. A further $150,000 per year has been budgeted for operating expenses, and Action Surveillance Verdun, a private company, will oversee day-to-day operations. The borough is paying a rent of $60,000 to owner Proment Corporation, a major developer on the island. In 2005 the lot was assessed at a value of $681,000.

State of Construction

The job of creating a viable vocation for the former gas station, while respecting the integrity of a brilliant work of architecture, was entrusted to Montreal architect Éric Gauthier. His firm, Les Architectes FABG, was responsible for the restoration of another famous architect’s landmark, the USA pavilion designed by Buckminster Fuller and built for Expo 67. (It’s now the Biosphère.)

Here are a few photos to show the current state of the site:

Work began last fall to decontaminate the soil, at the oil company’s expense. And at long last this spring, the plywood covering the glass walls came off and the glass curtain walls removed and set out for restoration. Heavy machinery and crews started digging to shore up foundations and replace sewage, drainage and water pipes as well as underground electrical and communications cables.

They are also installing a geothermal heat pump in a corner of the lot and the heating pipes will be embedded in the new floors, according to Michel Messier, site foreman for Norgéreq, which is doing the below-ground work.

“Yes, the rain hasn’t helped,” he smiled, when asked about why the site was deserted save for him. “Then there are the regular delays, such as getting signatures and parts. But we’ll be finished by June. After that, it’s up to the firm doing the structures.”

According to Trudel, the centre is expected to be up and running by the beginning of fall.

Aside from concerns about how well the updated structure will reflect Van der Rohe’s design, the building’s new purpose raises a significant question: Can teens, seniors and a great architect’s masterpiece live happily every after?

Main image via Image via Regular or Super, a documentary about the work of Mies van der Rohe. Other photos by John Woolfrey