AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
A garage built of shingles. 
The flat roof prevents obstruction of view from the house 
The Inexpensive Small Garage 
By H. P. Wilkin 
has Bcaae more and more the easton to 
house the machine on the premises of the 
owner, particularly in rural and suburban 
places, where the owner finds it more con- 
venient and economical to keep the car 
within close proximity to his home. By 
this means he not only saves from $10 to $20 a month on 
storage and cleaning, but he also prevents the car from be- 
ing taken out without his permission for “‘joy riding,” and 
has it always handy for use and inspection, which is par- 
ticularly desirable at the end of 
a 
housing the motor car does not need to be any larger than 
will afford protection to the machine and freedom of action 
for cleaning, oiling and adjusting it. 
There are often numerous objections to building a per- 
manent private garage. ‘The services of an architect might 
be required, construction might take too long, and the noise 
and débris of building would be objectionable. More im- 
portant than these considerations, however, may be the fact 
that the possessor or intending purchaser of the automobile 
is only a tenant and does not care to spend several hundred 
dollars on the construction of a special garage that must 
be left behind and become a total 
long ride, when one wants to get 
warmed up, washed and into dry, 
clean clothes with the least possible 
delay. 
The practice of keeping the car at 
home is more practical and satisfac- 
tory now than it was in former 
years, since motor cars have been 
brought to the degree of reliability 
and durability that makes frequent 
loss to him in the event of a change 
of residence. 
It was a foregone conclusion, 
when the motor car made its ap- 
pearance, that the portable house 
would be adapted to its needs. 
There is no necessity for building 
expensive structures for the housing 
of a motor car, unless, indeed, you 
have the money to do so. You 
Mats Poo” 
and expensive repairing unneces- 
sary. The average owner of a 
runabout, or a small touring car finds it no very troublesome 
task to clean and adjust his car as use and circumstances 
demand; or, if his premises are large enough to warrant 
employing a man for general work, the cleaning of the car, 
at least, can be delegated to him safely if he possesses or- 
dinary intelligence. 
Usually in suburban places and in the outlying residential 
parts of cities, the distance to a public garage is not great, 
and for that reason there is no need to provide expensive 
repair facilities in the private garage. They can be of the 
simplest nature, inexpensive, and occupy very little room ; 
in fact, can be disposed on an ordinary workbench and in 
a small wall cabinet. Consequently, the structure for 
Floor plan 
can buy in the open market, for a 
small sum of money, structures that 
can be set up in a few hours and that will answer all the 
needs of a moderate purse. One can afford to be fairly 
liberal in the matter of size and price in buying a portable 
garage because he will save the cost of the structure in 
two years in storage that would otherwise go to the public 
garage. 
This situation is very naturally met by the portable or 
knockdown garage, a construction that has come into wide- 
spread and common use among motorists. The advantages 
of the portable garage are so generally recognized that 
more than a score of manufacturing companies in the 
United States have found it worth their while to cater to 
the wants of automobilists in this line. These are scattered 
