The Purfina Service Station in Arnhem — Sybold van Ravesteyn’s Serrated Roof, 1955-1957

The Purfina Service Station in Arnhem — Sybold van Ravesteyn’s Serrated Roof, 1955-1957
The Purfina station on the Apeldoornseweg. Photo: A. J. van der Wal, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Arnhem, Gelderland · 1955-1957 · Sybold van Ravesteyn · municipal monument
The Purfina Service Station in Arnhem — Sybold van Ravesteyn’s Serrated Roof, 1955-1957

A wedge-shaped service station with porthole windows and a serrated roof edge, one of the few survivors of van Ravesteyn’s many Dutch filling stations.

At a glance

At Apeldoornseweg 105, in the north of Arnhem, Sybold van Ravesteyn designed this station for N.V. Purfina between 1955 and 1957. The plan is wedge-shaped, the roof slopes back, and its edge is cut into a row of serrations above round porthole windows. It lost its original function in 1994 and became offices; it was restored and extended at the back in 2000-2001. It is a municipal monument.

Key facts

  • Architect: Sybold van Ravesteyn
  • Built: 1955-1957
  • Client: N.V. Purfina
  • Offices: since 1994
  • Restoration: 2000-2001, Rouw & De Kock
  • Status: municipal monument
  • GPS: 52.0034885, 5.9217375 · Open in Google Maps

History

Van Ravesteyn designed many filling stations across the Netherlands, and most of them have been demolished. This one survived by changing use: the offices kept the building’s outline and the restoration added space behind it rather than altering the front.

What you see

Concrete, brick and glass. The front rises in a sharp slope, finished by a white edge cut into a saw-tooth line, and below it two round windows are set into the wall beside a tall glazed entrance.

Related

Sources

  • architectuur.org, Tankstation Purfina, Arnhem: Apeldoornseweg 105, 1955-57, Sybold van Ravesteyn, municipal monument, offices since 1994, restoration 2000-01 by Rouw & De Kock

Photograph: A. J. van der Wal, Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Editorial text © Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.

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