Multi-Park
Photo of a completed Mesker Multi-Park, used in the marketing brochure. Unknown location, 1950s. Original photo in the collection of the Willard Library, Evansville, IN.
This is a Mesker of a totally different kind.
In the 1950s, George L. Mesker & Co. – by then renamed Geo. L. Mesker Steel Corp. – manufactured and promoted the Multi-Park, “a sectional, all-steel parking shelter of modernistic design.” Lauded as “the newest in engineering design” the shelter consisted of standardized sections to accommodate any desired number of cars. Its balanced, butterfly shape required only a simple foundation and could be arranged for bumper-to-bumper, straight or angled parking. Facia could be easily decorated with painted or stainless steel, anodized aluminum, porcelain steel, or tile. Signs could also be added to the facia or ends enclosed in a characteristic trapezoidal shape with galvanized iron, aluminum, translucent fiberglass, or masonry. As all Mesker products past and present, the Multi-Park too claimed to be “moderately priced.”
I know nothing of how many of the Mesker Multi-Parks were built and whether there were competing companies that produced similar parking shelters. A cursory patent search did not result anything immediate or meaningful but more detailed research is needed. There appears to be a fair number of surviving 1950s car shelters of similar design but I have never bothered to look for any identifying marks. I will pay closer attention from now on.
(The marketing brochure below is also available for download at the APT Building Technology Heritage Library).
Cover of the Multi-Park marketing brochure.
Inside spread of the marketing brochure.
Back cover of the marketing brochure.
Photo of a completed Mesker Multi-Park, used in the marketing brochure. Unknown location, 1950s. Original photo in the collection of the Willard Library, Evansville, IN.
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[…] Co.) designed and engineered several structures for the automotive industry. In addition to the Multi-Park (“a sectional, all-steel parking shelter of modernistic design”), the company offered […]
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[…] of painted steel, and neon. In the 1950s, these modern canopies were employed in the company’s Multi-Park, “a sectional, all-steel parking shelter of modernistic […]
Interesting. That is a completely different look from the iconic Mesker storefronts.
Indeed. Just trying to break up the Victorian monotony (yeah right, I love this stuff!). I have more unusual examples that I’ll share periodically.