A 1954 storefront and gas station is remade into a modern restaurant with authentic 1950s details.
A new wood overhang adds a modern touch to the top of the existing building.
Moving the entry to the side provides a better connection between the interior bar and exterior seating area. Steel posts support the wood-framed canopy, which has an underside made of Georgia-Pacific’s Densglass sheathing (http://www.gp.com/build/densglass-fiberglassmat-sheathing), painted red to match the oilcloth ceiling of the restaurant.
The concrete bar countertop rests on concrete supports in each corner. There is storage underneath, concealed by MDF panels covered with a metallic laminate. “Instead of using pulls, we cut out circles in the doors,” architect Kristin Hefty says. The lighting is a mix of vintage and reproduction fixtures.
Hefty says that the header above the windows was undersized, so the team installed steel tubes behind the window mullions to support the cantilevered overhang.
The designers chose to keep the metal windows, but had the damaged segments repaired. Film on the lower half of the windows helps provide privacy for street-side diners.
The crew patched the original stonework where they had removed the original front door.
