cleah
Active member
Hello all. I thought I would introduce myself and tell you about my garage build. There are so many amazing garages here and I’m glad to post my project as well.
It all started when my mom said she wanted the Healey out of her garage. The Healey is our 1966 Austin Healey 3000. My dad bought it in 1978. I drove it to high school during my senior year. Not only is it a very cool car, but it has tremendous sentimental value and is a family heirloom. After my dad died, it sat in mom’s garage for ten years. During those years I did not have time or a place for it, but I was adamant that she not get rid of the car. She finally gave me an ultimatum, so I saw that as an opportunity to move forward with a plan I had hatched some years earlier.
I own a house built in 1925 with an attached three car garage—very spacious, but filled with two cars and a pickup. I also have a deep interest in architectural history, especially early 20th Century residential architecture. I noted that several of the prominent architectural firms practicing in Cleveland during that time referred to garages as “motor houses.” I rather liked that term, as it seems to fit early 20th Century motoring. I decided I wanted to build a separate motor house for the Austin Healey, and for a place to do a complete restoration on it since it very much deserves one.
I also like gardening and have a thing for greenhouses. My idea was to combine a greenhouse with the motor house and make it an architecturally significant addition to our property. I envisioned a design that was classic, one that could have been built in 1925, and that had fine detail but not over the top. I also wanted the motor house to sit adjacent to the existing garage, creating a motor court.
With my plan hatched, I needed to take it to my CEO/CFO for approval. Normally, those positions are filled by different people, so you can get one person on your side, then go double team the other. In my case one person holds both titles in my household. My plan was to use the greenhouse as a path to convincing my wife to approve the entire thing (the greenhouse would be a jewel of the yard), but it turns out she was all for the entire plan, on the condition that it was well designed.
So I sent my design sketches off to our architect and here are the final designs and site plan. More to come.
It all started when my mom said she wanted the Healey out of her garage. The Healey is our 1966 Austin Healey 3000. My dad bought it in 1978. I drove it to high school during my senior year. Not only is it a very cool car, but it has tremendous sentimental value and is a family heirloom. After my dad died, it sat in mom’s garage for ten years. During those years I did not have time or a place for it, but I was adamant that she not get rid of the car. She finally gave me an ultimatum, so I saw that as an opportunity to move forward with a plan I had hatched some years earlier.
I own a house built in 1925 with an attached three car garage—very spacious, but filled with two cars and a pickup. I also have a deep interest in architectural history, especially early 20th Century residential architecture. I noted that several of the prominent architectural firms practicing in Cleveland during that time referred to garages as “motor houses.” I rather liked that term, as it seems to fit early 20th Century motoring. I decided I wanted to build a separate motor house for the Austin Healey, and for a place to do a complete restoration on it since it very much deserves one.
I also like gardening and have a thing for greenhouses. My idea was to combine a greenhouse with the motor house and make it an architecturally significant addition to our property. I envisioned a design that was classic, one that could have been built in 1925, and that had fine detail but not over the top. I also wanted the motor house to sit adjacent to the existing garage, creating a motor court.
With my plan hatched, I needed to take it to my CEO/CFO for approval. Normally, those positions are filled by different people, so you can get one person on your side, then go double team the other. In my case one person holds both titles in my household. My plan was to use the greenhouse as a path to convincing my wife to approve the entire thing (the greenhouse would be a jewel of the yard), but it turns out she was all for the entire plan, on the condition that it was well designed.
So I sent my design sketches off to our architect and here are the final designs and site plan. More to come.
WOW
