August, i 9 i 6 
25 
Frank Smart, architect 
An excellent type combining garage and chauffeur's quarters. Wide 
doors and drives make approach and exit easy and convenient 
An admirable effect can be had by connecting the house and gar¬ 
age by a pergola, thus making the garage seem a part of the house 
or half story is desirable, for it makes a 
fine place to store a winter body in sum¬ 
mer, a touring body in winter, or either 
one when overhauling the chassis. This 
need not be finished off, except when it is 
desired to make provision for the chauf¬ 
feur, in which case a full second story, en¬ 
tirely finished off, and with bathroom, is 
desirable. 
The ground levels have an influence only 
when building both house and garage simul¬ 
taneously. In some cases it is possible to 
make good use of a hilly piece of ground 
by building the garage as part of the base¬ 
ment of the house. Very often a lot which 
is high in the front and low at the rear 
lends itself very well to this economical 
combination. 
Construction Materials 
As to materials, it should be borne in 
mind that a fireproof building is doubly de¬ 
sirable, from the standpoint of protecting 
the investment in both car and building to 
say nothing of its contents, but also from 
the point of view of lowered insurance. 
With this thought fixed, cement stucco on 
hollow tile, or cement plaster on metal lath, 
all stone, all brick, or all concrete in the 
form of blocks are the most desirable. In 
making the choice, the car owner will be 
governed by the material used for the house 
and other buildings, the amount which he 
feels he can spend, the time available for 
building, and other similar items. Other 
things being equal, the writer favors the 
first two. 
In the matter of light, practically all 
garage builders go wrong. This is the one 
thing which is needed most in a garage, par¬ 
ticularly if the owner plans to do any work 
on the car himself, or have any done. And 
yet nine garages out of ten have insufficient 
lighting, both natural and artificial. In an 
investigation made by the writer at one 
time in twenty-five garages visited one had 
good light and four were classified as fair. 
The balance were either bad or very bad, 
and these included a number of expensive 
two-car garages. Only one had five win¬ 
dows, five had four windows, five had three, 
nine had two, four had only one and one had 
no windows at all! 
A garage 12' 6" by 20' outside, as men¬ 
tioned previously, should have at least three 
windows on each side, two in the back and 
two in the front door, a total of ten. And 
where built low it should have a skylight 
in addition, or if the roof is sloping two 
skylights. And the artificial lighting pro¬ 
vision should be just as good, for there are 
many dull holidays and Sundays when the 
mechanically inclined man will want to work 
off his surplus energy repairing, adjusting 
or cleaning the car. 
Ventilation is important to keep the gar¬ 
age smelling sweet and clean, and also to 
rid it of the dangerous fumes from fuel 
and oils. The latter it must be remembered 
are heavy, and the ventilation for these 
should be low, preferably at the floor level. 
Other ventilation should be high, preferably 
at or in the roof construction. 
Heating the Garage 
Heating is a problem all by itself, com¬ 
plicated by the highly inflammable nature 
of the gasoline, oils, oily waste, etc. This 
calls for heating in which there is no open 
flame, barring all stoves or open heaters. 
When near the house, the steam or hot 
water system can be extended to it readily, 
but at a distance a separate plant is needed. 
On many large suburban places the green¬ 
house and garage can be combined very ef¬ 
fectively, both as to building cost and utility 
on the one hand, and appearance on the 
other. In a case of this sort the copious 
supply of heat provided for the greenhouse 
takes care of all need for heat in the garage. 
In this connection a word of caution: do 
not put the greenhouse on top of the garage 
as exhaust gases from the motor will kill 
the majority of house plants. 
It is well to build in an overhead beam 
of wood or metal to form the basis for a 
hoist, needed for taking off a body, taking 
out an engine or any similar heavy work. 
(Continued on page 54) 
Photo by Brown Bros. 
Where the slope of land or type of architecture permits, the gar¬ 
age can be made an integral part of the house itself 
Courtesy of C. D. Pruden Co. 
Painted to match the house or surrounding structural elements, 
the ready-built garage fits into the city property successfully 
