24 
HO USE & GARDEN 
Photo by Jackson & Whitman J. R. Pope, architect B. V. White, architect 
On this Baltimore estate the hack of the garage was used for the Considering the size of this two-car concrete garage , the single 
wall of a formal garden, an excellent idea where space permits door is too small for convenience. Provision for light is good 
CONSTRUCTING THE PRIVATE GARAGE 
Where to Put It — How to Make It — How to 
lie It Up with Your House and Grounds 
G ENERALLY speaking, the person who 
builds a garage expects to get more 
motoring with greater comfort and usual¬ 
ly for less money. By having the car closer 
at hand, more accessible, it is more usable 
and as a result more used. If nothing else 
did, this would justify the relatively small 
expense of building and maintaining one’s 
own garage on the property. 
In building such a place the following 
items should have serious consideration: 
Floor plans and number of floors, the rela¬ 
tion of the layout to the ground levels; 
materials, lighting (natural and artificial), 
ventilation, heating, facilities for doing 
work, equipment, supply of fuels, etc., and 
finally the relation of the garage to the other 
buildings that are near it. 
The latter may be considered briefly. If 
the other buildings are all of a certain shape 
with a fixed relation of height to width and 
length, a certain kind of material for the 
foundations, another certain kind for the 
side walls, a third for the roof, etc., in 
MORRIS A. HALL 
short, if all the other buildings are in har¬ 
mony and each constitutes one part of the 
general scheme, the garage should be de¬ 
signed and built so as to conform with that 
scheme. This might influence the floor 
plan, relation to ground levels, and surely 
would influence the materials. 
Figuring the Size 
Admitting that is not the usual case, the 
size and floor plan should be taken up first. 
In most instances the rectangular shape is 
best and most economical, with a length 
about 1.6 times the width, the latter being 
fixed by the size of the car, and the needed 
working space on the sides. Thus, if the 
owner finds his car is 5' 8" wide and feels 
sure that 3' 2" on each side is plenty of 
working space, this gives an inside width 
of 12'. Then the best length would be about 
1.6 times this or 19' 3". Both these are in¬ 
side dimensions so the outside sizes would 
be greater, varying with the materials used. 
Unless a big turning space is available, 
the garage should have a turntable, located 
preferably near the door and directly in 
the middle of the width. Then the work 
benches, cupboards for tools and supplies, 
etc., should be at the farther end. The 
owner’s door should be a small one and 
separate from the main garage doors. Close 
to this, preferably on either side of it, should 
be the washstand and the clothes lockers. 
Equally close on the other side should be 
the source of gasoline supply, water and 
oil. This arrangement makes it possible 
for the owner to enter, put on his motoring 
togs, fill all oil and fuel tanks and the radia¬ 
tor without too much walking around. 
Of course, it goes without saying that 
the gasoline and oil tanks should be of the 
safety type, buried in the ground outside 
of the garage building and as far away as 
possible. All that is inside the garage is 
the connecting pipe and outlet faucet, and 
perhaps the quantity gauge. 
If the building is long enough and wide 
enough to warrant, it, a low second story, 
© E. F. Hodgson Co. 
The ready-to-put-up garage is practical and inexpensive. Sur- Though of unusual architecture, the doors of this garage are 
rounded with shrubbery it can be made a factor in the garden sufficient. The lighting, however, is inadequate for work inside 
