Sunday, December 02, 2007

Who says "big oil" can't be cool?

What's not to love about this building? This is the Union Oil Research building near Imperial Highway and Valencia Ave. in Brea, circa 1964. Dig those clean, modern lines, and the wonderful signage. I bet it was hard to take a bad photo of this place, since the "good composition" was built right in.

Naturally, the eye is immediately drawn to the huge "76" circle, but ultimately, the word "RESEARCH" -- in a font mimicking architects' printing -- is even cooler.

There are a lot of contrasting textures used in this building too, which was typical of the era. Today, industrial buildings, (like everything else,) tend to just look like stucco crates.

Someday I'll have to do one of those Images of America books on Mid-Century Modern industrial buildings in O.C. There were some real gems.

5 comments:

Chris Merritt said...

What a building! I'm still looking for a shot of the long-gone "Circle Seal" builing in Fullerton, right off the 5 freeway....

ItsNotAPlace said...

That is a cool building! I've never see or heard of that building. If only today's business buildings were that interesting to look at!

outsidetheberm said...

Boy, there's a memory! That building was awesome. It was later replaced nearby by a new, more modern 'circular' structure that had a really great theater inside that the community at large could use for events. Sadly, that building, too, has been recently demolished. The land was to become housing - alas, the housing crash seems to have stalled those plans.

ItsNotAPlace said...

I do remember the round glass building... I didn't know they tore that one down too! Wow. I need to get out more!

Daveland said...

Great post! Thanks for the awesome image!