Winston-Salem Is Home to the Only Remaining Historic Shell Oil “Clamshell” Station

Perhaps one of Winston-Salem’s more obscure claims to fame is as the home to the only remaining Shell Oil clamshell station in the United States. A local distributor of Shell, Quality Oil, in the 1930s built seven stations in Winston-Salem and one in nearby Kernersville as advertisements. These unique stations are today considered prime examples of representational or novelty architecture.

The quirky design was intended to draw customers, though it presented a difficult construction process. To achieve the desired effect, the office and bathroom areas were boxed in with a bent wood and wire frame. The entire facade was then coated in stucco and finished with Shell’s iconic bright yellow color. Next to the building is a trellised cover that served as the car wash and work area, while a drive-up ramp was used for other services and repairs. Restored gas pumps and replica lamp posts complete the step back in time.

Restored & Listed on National Register

This station actually remained operational until the 1950s, and the building later served as home to a lawn mower repair shop in the 1970s and 1980s. But thanks to the efforts of Preservation North Carolina, the station was restored, and in 1976 it became the first individual station in America to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Situated on the quiet neighborhood corner of Sprague and Peachtree streets, the station’s interior is no longer open to visitors, but it’s still worth a visit. A glance through its windows reveals walls hung with framed newspaper articles, and shelves lined with antique black-and-white photographs, old Shell signs and other items attesting to the station’s history.