1930-31 Bonecutter-Dimond Chevrolet Filling Station: Spanish Colonial Revival Architecture

The 1930 Bonecutter-Dimond Chevrolet Filling Station

Corner of Main St. and New York St.

A symbol of the increasing popularity of automobiles in the 1920s and 1930s, particularly on the rural North American plains, this wonderfully colorful building was constructed in 1930 and the very beginning of 1931 in the Spanish Colonial Revival or Spanish Eclectic style. With its grand opening on January 15, 1931, this building served as the filling station for the Bonecutter-Dimond Chevrolet dealership; the Spanish Colonial Revival building directly to the north was the dealership's garage.

The Bonecutter-Dimond Garage and Filling Station
at the time of its opening in January 1931.

Many changes have been made to the interiors and exteriors of both buildings over the years but the overall Spanish Colonial style look of both buildings has remained essentially the same. If you look at the photographs below, you can see many of the unique Spanish Colonial details on the old filling station, now an automobile repair shop. The photographs do not do these features justice - if you visit downtown Smith Center and look closely at this wonderful building, you can see its 'S' shaped Spanish tile on the slanted roof tops, its mission style parapets with tiled crenellations that look somewhat like miniature bells, its marbled green stained glass windows (which are only there for decoration), its Solomonic columns, and its wrought iron window grills and balconies. Both this building and the former garage to the north also have wonderful colored tile ornamentation built into the facades.

Detail of the 1930 Bonecutter-Dimond Chevrolet
Filling Station.

Detail of the 1930 Bonecutter-Dimond
Chevrolet Filling Station.

The 1930 Bonecutter-Dimond Chevrolet Garage.