Old gas station converted into art gallery

A former Sinclair gas station that was built in 1923 in Cuba, Mo., has been converted into the Spirals Gallery & Studio, according to a story in the Cuba Free Press.

Merry Brewer Cloer and her husband Adam renovated the “ramshackle” Don’s Sinclair Station at 502 E. Washington Blvd. (aka Route 66). Spirals opened in mid-October.

“My dream was to have a bed and breakfast in some beautiful setting that would inspire me to paint or whatever. Adam wanted to build and restore classic cars,” she said. In August, Adam became the shop manager for Classic Autoworks in Rolla, and he calls it his dream job. Merry’s dream took a less direct route.

“Our house was overflowing with our projects, so I was trying to find a storage building,” she said. “We lived just a block from this dilapidated building, and I got to wondering about it. I tracked down the owner and asked to see it and agreed to buy it to use as a storage building. After Adam looked at it, he said that it would need a lot of structural work to make it useable, so we started to fix it up. Things have just ‘spiraled’ since then and been so much fun.” […]

Although the building was pretty run down, there were a few unique aspects. On the sides of the building there is mother-of-pearl shell inlayed in the concrete. Inside, you will see the front wall of the station, with its mother-of- pearl inlay preserved. It was covered in grime and layers of paint. Now, it sparkles in the light. The original columns for the station still stand guard outside the front entrance.

Merry will sell her own works, plus offer space to local artists on a consignment basis. Adam says he plans to display and sell a few classic cars near the gallery, as a way to add to the Route 66 atmosphere.

The Spirals Gallery can be found on Facebook here, with plenty of photos. Merry also is asking for any information about the history of the Sinclair station.