Pure Oil Gas Station, Saratoga Springs

The Pure Oil Gas Station, located on Spring Street in Saratoga Springs, is a remarkable example of early 20th-century service station architecture. Originally built in 1933 by the Pure Oil Company, the building embodies the Tudor Revival style, a design choice meant to make gas stations feel more like cozy roadside cottages rather than stark industrial outposts.

The station was originally located at 522 Broadway, serving motorists for decades before being repurposed multiple times. By the 1960s, it had become a Gulf station, known locally as the Old Kiley Gas Station. Later, it was transformed into the Great Bay Clam Company. However, in 1976, faced with possible demolition, the building was relocated to its current site on Spring Street, where it was saved and preserved.

This one-story brick building, measuring 34 feet by 27 feet, consists of a main office block with a rear wing and a single-stall garage. A distinctive feature of the structure is its steeply pitched Ludowici tile roof, a hallmark of durability and craftsmanship.

The National Register of Historic Places listed the station in 1978, recognizing its architectural and historical significance. Over the years, it has seen various uses, including a medical supplies store, a legal and loan office, and eventually a bakery. In 1993, the Bread Basket Bakery took over the building, undertaking a restoration project in 1996 to bring back its vintage charm.

Today, the former Pure Oil Gas Station stands as a well-preserved piece of Saratoga Springs' past, a testament to adaptive reuse and historical preservation in urban settings.