{"id":288,"date":"2008-09-04T17:35:07","date_gmt":"2008-09-04T22:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=288"},"modified":"2022-04-04T16:29:55","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T21:29:55","slug":"church-gas-station-arlington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/church-gas-station-arlington\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Lady of the Gas Pump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I was wandering through some old haunts recently. Then I spotted a building I used to see quite often. I’d forgotten all about this place, but was happy to find an unusual friend once again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An Architectural Landmark<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Church-Gas<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Observe the Arlington Temple United Methodist Church<\/a>. This unusual structure sits in the Rosslyn section of Arlington County, Virginia, just across the river from the District of Columbia. It’s a well-known local landmark solely because of the gas station located beneath the sanctuary. Indeed, visitors fill up their tanks at the Chevron station at street level and save their souls at the Methodist Church up above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It goes by various names locally. Back when I used to see it regularly it was an Exxon station. Then people called it the Exxon United Methodist, St. Exxon, Our Lady of Exxon, or somewhat generically Our Lady of the Gas Pump. I suppose they’ve probably recycled those old nicknames with “Chevron” by now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It used to be quite entertaining to watch people turn the corner and behold this architectural magnificence for the first time. I often included it as a regular stop on my local tour for out-of-town guests just to get their reaction. We had to walk right past it to get to the nearby Metro subway station so it wasn’t even out of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Convenient Access<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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