Motor Court, 1950s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

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Motor Court, 1950s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1950–1959

AA-2026-935A32

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A motel arranged in the U-shape that became the American standard after the war sits empty on an ordinary afternoon, its modest white stucco units facing a parking lot that had no need to be full. The builder installed a landscaped island in the center—a small evergreen and flower bed—the kind of decorative touch that signaled aspiration without luxury, meant to distinguish this particular stop from all the others lining the highway. A single car idles near the office. The motel had no pool, no restaurant, no reason to linger; it existed to sell sleep by the night to people who were already moving. In the 1950s, these structures multiplied across America because the Interstate system was coming, and everyone assumed Americans would keep stopping at them.

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