Pure Oil Drive-Through Sails Through City Council

With neither a bang nor a whimper, Geneva City Council members approved plans to convert the historic bays into drive-through lanes for St. Charles Bank & Trust Company, which will be located in Joe Stanton's building at 514 W. State St.

On Tuesday night, the council granted a special use permit for the drive-through. While banks are allowed in the B-2 business district, the drive-through facility requires the special use permit.

The Geneva Zoning Ordinance will be amended, as well. The ordinance now requires drive-through banking facilities to provide reservoir space for five times the number of teller windows, but the applicant is proposing to provide reservoir space for three times the number of teller windows. The ordinance change was approved by resolution Tuesday night.

The Geneva Plan Commission had given its blessing to the plan on Aug. 9.

Stanton previously had sought to , arguing that it was unsuitable for adaptive reuse. But the Historic Preservation Commission denied a demolition permit, and Stanton . The solution proposed was to use the former gas station bays for a drive-through facility.

The Pure Oil Building is historically significant because it is one of the last remaining examples of "English cottage" style gas stations built by the Pure Oil Company in the 1920s and '30s. Many of the remaining stations are on national, state and local registers of historic places—and this one was deemed "significant" to the Geneva Historic District and "contributing" to our National Historic District.

This Pure Oil station was built by August Wilson, a well-known Geneva general contractor, who was "complimented on the excellent work done thruout the job," according to a Dec. 3, 1937, edition of The Geneva Republican.

The Pure Oil Building is the present home of the . Businesses listed in the 514 W. State St. building include the  and