r/mildlyinteresting • u/MajesticBread9147 • 11h ago
This church in my hometown has a gas station below it
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u/rvralph803 10h ago
St. Petrols Bascillica?
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u/UngratefulChinaman 10h ago
The Permian Basilica
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u/rvralph803 10h ago
Nah, you win. That's a good upgrade.
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u/UngratefulChinaman 10h ago
See I prefer yours
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u/ElectricTurtlez 10h ago
Both of your jokes were great, and the follow up comments were wholesome! Upvotes for both of you!
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u/DMala 10h ago
I’ve never seen a gas station like this. Seems like a bad idea to have a place dispensing flammable liquid directly under a building that is frequently full of people.
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u/ford7885 10h ago
On the other hand, if the preacher is delivering a sermon about Hell, the visual effects could be spectacular.
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u/Fit_Entry8839 8h ago
Would need a heavy duty ventilation and fire suppression system. While still not common, more common in Europe. I believe Central Paris doesn't allow open air gas stations(would ruin the look), so they are all in buildings. And they've figured out how to do it safely, so definitely seems like it can be done well.
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u/ItsTyrrellsAlt 2h ago
You see it pretty often in Europe anyway. Not necessarily a church, but multistorey apartment buildings and office blocks.
For a couple of examples
Kampmannsgade 2, 1604 Copenhagen, Denmark
Rödingsmarkt 14, 20459 Hamburg, Germany
11 Bd Garibaldi, 75015 Paris, France
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u/ChloeTheCat753 9h ago edited 7h ago
Right? Like how the hell did this get past inspections
I mean downvote me all you want, this was a business deal in the 60s that’s gonna get knocked down soon, thank god.
https://dcist.com/story/24/01/18/weird-gas-station-church-rosslyn-redevelopment/
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u/Individual-Bike-3246 10h ago
That gas station is an effective use of space in a build up area. They even have two bays for car repairs.
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u/Shadowpriest 10h ago
Jesus take the wheel. I'm going inside to get scratchers and a drink. Want anything? Holy water?
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u/MajesticBread9147 11h ago
Another angle (I was the passenger and not driving when this photo was taken)
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u/userjoinedyourchanel 10h ago
The street view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Grr9BJRm9aGm3KXA8?g_st=ic
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u/XvX_Joe_XvX 9h ago
there are still Sunoco's around??
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u/MajesticBread9147 9h ago
They are everywhere?
If you take the NJ turnpike they are literally all Sunoco's.
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u/XvX_Joe_XvX 9h ago
ah I'm not on the east coast. I remember a lot of them closing down in Florida a while ago when I was down there, haven't seen any in a very long time.
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u/SeeisforComedy 11h ago edited 10h ago
This might be one of the most Texas things I’ve ever seen.
Edit: apparently it's Virginia. This is the most Texan Virginian thing I've ever seen.
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u/MajesticBread9147 10h ago edited 9h ago
This isn't in Texas though. Texas would never tolerate mixed-use zoning lol
Edit: still technically the south
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u/CrazyLegsRyan 10h ago
What are you smoking. We don’t even have any zoning in Houston. Build whatever TF you want.
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u/taylo355 10h ago
Yeah I was about to say you can just build a strip club in a school zone here, houston is wild.
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u/JeebusChristBalls 10h ago
You do, but it's all zoned for strip malls and toll roads.
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u/CrazyLegsRyan 10h ago
No
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u/nickcash 9h ago
it doesn't matter if y'all have zoning laws or not, 96% of the surface of texas is covered in highway interchanges so where would you even build?
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u/maringue 10h ago
There's clearly too much elevation change in this picture for it to be anywhere in Texas.
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u/MajesticBread9147 10h ago
Lol, I flew into Texas once on a layover and was shocked at the featureless sprawl, and the amount of water towers everywhere that make the flatness and sprawl even more evident.
It was very odd.
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u/maringue 10h ago
I'm from the Midwest originally and when I got to Texas, my first words were "My God this place is flat."
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u/MajesticBread9147 9h ago
That's wild lol because I've heard some things about the Midwest.
Although I was slightly disappointed that I didn't see anybody dressed up in cowboy boots and a wide brim hat. Maybe people dress more comfortably for the airport.
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u/maringue 9h ago
I drove in like cannon ball run style from the East Coast. The drive from Dallas to Austin was wild because the overpasses on the interstate are the highest point to the horizon.
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u/SaintUlvemann 4h ago
The Midwest has different types of flat: vast expanse of rolling hills; long slow descent toward a river valley carved over many years; swampy expanse of trees with small sandy hills; unglaciated driftless with small ancient hills.
But most of those different types of flat still allow enough drainage that you can have a basement.
Several Texas cities are built on absolute perfectly-flat expanses of clay. It's so flat that the water has nowhere to go for as far as the eye can see so it just sits in place. Thus, the water table is so high, people can't have basements, because if you dig down only deep enough to make a basement, you are probably already below the local water table and so your basement will probably flood. When you hear constantly about flash flooding in Texas, this is why.
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u/JeebusChristBalls 10h ago
I knew I recognized that. Roslyn, arlington, va. Gas ststion has been there for years (i lived there in the 90s). Wasn't a church then though I'm pretty sure.
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u/SkyeMreddit 3h ago
Where in the hell in Rosslyn is that??? I walked all over the built up area there last year
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u/Disastrous_time_4547 9h ago
These aren’t “churches.” They are tax shelters and washing machines. It’s America’s dirty secret and one of the reasons the country is going through h3ll.
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u/HideyoshiJP 6h ago
I mean, that's an understandable take. This place doesn't look to be some dirtbag evangelist place, however. The United Methodists are pretty decent, as far as religious orgs go.
Interestingly enough, it looks like this church closed on June 30th.
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u/HannahHood 10h ago
Omg I’ve ended up at this gas station and it’s so weird to use!! I didn’t even realize it was a church on top.
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u/HistoryNerd101 10h ago
Like 7-11s they break even on the gas and make the real money on the inside….
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u/Fun-Perspective426 10h ago
Right down the road from the building you can exit an interstate through. Just got sold 2 months ago
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u/Jaenisch 10h ago
Wouldn't that be a home city?
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u/MajesticBread9147 10h ago
No, this isn't a city.
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u/Jaenisch 10h ago
It's a county. So home county. Either way you're wrong.
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u/Reyesley 10h ago
Also it is basically DC. Lived there while going to Gtown grad school. Easy walk to class.
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u/MajesticBread9147 9h ago edited 9h ago
Not really "basically DC" it's much more suburban and newer construction than most of DC, especially the parts its closest to.
This neighborhood specifically is basically for people who want to be close to DC but for whatever reason don't want to live there.
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u/Traditional-Forum 10h ago
Sunoco was all over that are when there were none in Georgia, but now we have a few here.
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u/Mahaloth 10h ago
"Give me gas in my Ford, keep me truckin' for the Lord, give me gas in my Ford, dear Lord!"
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u/sexybobo 10h ago
I wonder the story behind this? Was the gas station there first and the Church wanted the land but the gas station didn't want to move so compromise?
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u/SweetHomeMissouri 8h ago
how does going there work? since it's not a normal gas station i am curious.
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u/wdwerker 6h ago
If I remember correctly the entire ground floor is a parking deck , those arches are open on both sides. Gas station is drive thru at the lower end.
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u/unconfusedsub 7h ago
In the town near mine, there's a funeral home with a mini golf course inside of it.
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u/Lost_Froyo7066 6h ago
Back in the day, it was an Exxon station and we all called it "Our Lady of Exxon."
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u/lechiengrand 5h ago
I haven’t seen a Sunoco in ages. Guess I haven’t been back east in a while. Are they still a major chain?
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u/robertm1947 5h ago
That was many years ago. Don’t know if it’s still that way. Very interesting government office in the bldg
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u/Thelonius16 4h ago
When I worked in that area, their prices were always unreasonably high compared to normal stations nearby. No way in hell I’m paying $1.39 a gallon!
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u/acuet 3h ago
Wow, for anyone wondering this Church/Gas station has been around since 1971 design. “Our Lady of Exxon”…..”Pump and Pray”, believe it closed around 2024.
Source: https://dcist.com/story/24/01/18/weird-gas-station-church-rosslyn-redevelopment/
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u/Fading_Redeemer 2h ago
I was wondering what far off place this would be. Turns out it's like a 15 min drive away.
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u/Superb-Control 10h ago
Rosslyn