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Bryan Burch
January 30, 2008
Dan Morrill
Roadside Architecture
As a
teacher of landscape history and landscape reading Chester H. Liebs is
the perfect author for a book which chronicles the view one observes
through their automobile windshield as they travel along reading the
landscape, and more specifically, viewing the built environment. Liebs’
book, “Main Street to Miracle Mile,” begins with the story of the
evolution of America as we see it through our windshield today. It also
gives the reader a brief architecture lesson. The book then dissects
seven types of road side architecture that grew up in twentieth century
America along with the automobile. These examples of architecture being
auto showrooms, gas stations, supermarkets, mini golf courses, drive-in
movie theaters, motels, and restaurants. Liebs said it best when he
called the automobile a revolution in travel. He later suggests that
the introduction of advertising and commercials into people’s auto
windshield view was one of the most dramatic changes seen by travelers.
The
1995 revised version of the book presents the reader with Liebs’
“Reflections a Decade Later” in which he looks back at his survey of
what he calls a profound change in the American landscape of the
twentieth-century, that is, the shift of commerce from city to highway.
The reflection tells why Liebs wrote the book in the first place. It
also gives the reader an insight into Liebs’ accreditation and lets them
know where he’s coming from, where he gets his motivation from, and what
he does. Liebs also tells who he originally wrote the book for and
tells why his writing of this book was important.
In the first
chapter, titled ‘Space,’ Liebs explains the evolution that lead from
main street to miracle mile. Main street was the original downtown
corridor that was the heart of business of any city or town in America.
On main street trade took place and people mingled. Liebs mentions many
important main streets in early America here and touches on how the
railroad affected main street. Cities grew as trade increased and
transit systems improved. However, no growth could match that which
came with the introduction of the automobile. Liebs points out that at
first these vehicles were a novelty but then became something else
merchants could sell products for. As main street grew, expansion was
inevitable. The roads, or shopping streets, that expanded off of main
street as cities expanded Liebs calls “the taxpayer strip.” Following
the taxpayer strip came the early highways. These rural roads took
people beyond the city limits and lead to new commercial ventures for
entrepreneurs. As the number of cars on the roads grew, the roads
themselves grew too. As more people hit the road, places for them to
fuel up, grab a bite, or take a nap popped up as they traveled. The
evolution to modern day miracle mile was underway. Liebs states that
the latest stage in this evolution came with the superhighway, and that
evolution was the frontage strip and the interchange cluster; those
commercial developments resulting from, and appearing alongside
interstate superhighways.
Liebs’
chapter ‘Architecture for Speed-Reading’ is very helpful to the reader.
It briefly discusses the types of architecture seen through the
windshield while on the road and prepares the reader for what is ahead.
Liebs states that the roads are full of images and that image is
everything. There is domestic imagery, something simple, that of a
house or a cottage; something that would connect the viewer with home
and have symbolic value. There was also fantastic imagery. In the
1920’s this type of imagery became popular. The architecture took the
shape of giant bottles, foods, or animals. The images were a calculated
strategic weapon used by roadside merchants as they physically
illustrated the name or nature of the business or the merchandise sold
inside. Regional and historical imagery built on preconceptions
travelers had of a certain area, such as a building looking like a
Spanish mission in the southwest or a colonial looking cottage in the
northeast. Modern imagery such as art deco, streamline modern, modern,
or exaggerated modern came as time passed, trends evolved, and styles
changed. The environmental look grew from the environmentalist movement
of the 1960’s, and the old building look of the late 60’s reflected
America’s want for historic preservation. As America neared the end of
the twentieth century the high-tech look became the style of choice.
In the
predominate section of the book ‘Types’ Liebs chronicles the types of
architecture he sees as pivotal American roadside architecture. These
examples of architecture being auto showrooms, which grew from salon
showrooms to the roadside as a showroom that we know today, gas stations
that started off as pumps on the curb and are now high volume pump
stations with convenience stores, supermarkets which were once specialty
stores where a grocer would provide full service to the self-serve
standardized supermarket we know today, mini golf courses which built on
people’s imagination and amazed travelers, drive-in movie theaters that
entertained motorists without even requiring them to leave the comfort
of their cars, motels which offered the weary traveler a home away from
home while on the open road, and restaurants which offered those on the
road and away from home anything from a quick bite to a hearty meal.
Each piece of architecture is thoroughly described. Their history is
disected, their evolution is described, and their architecture detailed.
“Main
Street to Miracle Mile” is the perfect introduction to American roadside
architecture. Not only does it educate the reader on how the country
evolved following the introduction of the automobile, it gives a lesson
in twentieth century architecture and does an amazing job of chronicling
the type of architecture found along the roads of America. Even without
the illustrations in the margins of this book the words paint a vivid
enough picture to imagine ones self driving down the highway in any
given decade of 1900’s America.
Word Count: 982
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