Wealthy Tahoe neighborhood at a crossroads with landmark midcentury icon

"After decades of neglect, a historically significant and potentially landmark-worthy architectural marvel, one that has long served as the gateway to Lake Tahoe's Incline Village, Nevada, is on the verge of either rescue or ruin. It also happens to be a hollowed-out gas station. Known for generations here as the Orbit Station, after the service station chain famous for its type of futuristic, space-age "Googie" architectural style, the structure at 560 Lakeshore Blvd. anchors a trio of corner lots that signal entry to the famed street, home to celebrities and billionaires."

"The old gas station was one of the first permanent structures in town and possibly the oldest still standing. While some in Incline have considered it to be an eyesore, its design - a soaring double-triangular roof structure - is no less than iconic, according to architectural historian Alan Hess. Hess, who has qualified several known buildings in the western United States for the National Register of Historic Places, literally wrote the book on this style of midcentury architecture. He sees tremendous value in the old building, especially in a place like Incline, where the inventory of such midcentury marvels has been destroyed over the decades."

""It is special," Hess told SFGATE by phone. "I'm looking at a picture of it. It is a very handsome building.""

""The Orbit gas stations are concrete," he said. "This is wood, maybe some steel, so there are those differences.""

A vacant midcentury Orbit gas station anchors three corner lots at 560 Lakeshore Blvd., marking the gateway to Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. The structure features a soaring double-triangular roof emblematic of space-age Googie design. The building is one of the town's earliest permanent structures and may be the oldest still standing, yet decades of neglect left it hollowed out. Architectural historian Alan Hess describes the building as handsome and significant and notes material differences from typical Orbit stations, which were concrete; this example uses wood and possibly steel. The building faces potential rescue, landmarking, or demolition amid local debate.

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