DREAM GARAGES
Hidden treasures
If a backstreet lock-up is your idea of heaven, prepare to be amazed. JOHN EVANS opens the door on the rarefied world of luxury garages
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very Christmas they’ve been given the book, the gloves, the slippers… So this year why not give the car enthusiast in your
life something to blow their novelty socks off: a garage. No, not a cheap pre-fab with a single light bulb; instead, a ‘gallery space’ in which they can display their motor (more likely motors), perhaps with a lounge area, a bar, maybe even a turntable that rises and falls so they and their friends can admire their latest wheels from all angles.
Right now, eight car enthusiasts somewhere in the world are contemplating Christmas with their own, even more ambitious and impressive gallery spaces, both above and below the ground. They’re clients of London-based architect Jonathan Clark and a division of his architecture practice Garage Deluxe, a business he launched four years ago with the aim of combining his passions of cars and architecture.
“Ever since boyhood trips with my father to the Earl’s Court motor show, I’ve been interested in cars,” explains Clark. “Today, in addition to my everyday cars, a Porsche Macan and a Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet, I have an Alfa Romeo Spider 3.2 and a Ferrari 575 Superamerica. I like cars and I understand why other people like them.” Throughout, of course he’s had a living to earn, which is where the architecture comes in. Earlier in his career, Clark was involved in major projects that included the Lord’s Cricket Ground media centre and the National Portrait Gallery extension. However, it was his work designing animal welfare centres that opened his eyes to the benefits of specialising.