Weird garage flooring

[Housenewb]

Ok so our newly purchased house was built in 1900. Garage is a two car garage divided in half with a wall. Now here’s the fun part. The floor is concrete BUT only until half of it lengthwise. The other half is some sort of garage cellar or like a basement kinda thing accessible from the rear of the building. One side of the garage looks like the hole was filled with bricks and I hear the older lady here used to park her car. The other garage has wooden boards covering the pit and they went with the garage shop set up. My questions are.

Can I just rip up those boards and fill that pit (half a one car garage) with bricks and start parking my car there safely?

Second, is the other side safe considering the building itself is in pretty good shape and the concrete that’s already in place seems good. Meaning can bricks hold a car safely? (Pit is about 4 feet deep)

Third. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I looked for hours online and never saw any record of a garage being concreted only to half with a rear underground pit or basement kinda thing.

Pics 1 and 2 are of garage with boards over hollow floor.
Pics 3 and 4 are of garage with filled pit.

 

[Negen]

I have seen service pits in old garage where you could drive the over and work on it without needing a lift. I have also seen these converted to storage over years. Could that be what you have? Hard to imagine from pics.

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[The Cobbler]

could it have been old cisterns?

 

[Lelandwelds]

Welcome to the joys of owning an old house!

Who knows? As long as it isn't a historical building, do what you want. Survival bunker? Hot tub? Wine cellar? Lube pit? Mini Roman coliseum? Car carousel so you don't need to back out of your garage?

Would make a hell of a haunted house for Halloween.

 

[Housenewb]

Welcome to the joys of owning an old house!

Who knows? As long as it isn't a historical building, do what you want. Survival bunker? Hot tub? Wine cellar? Lube pit? Mini Roman coliseum? Car carousel so you don't need to back out of your garage?

Would make a hell of a haunted house for Halloween.

Hahahahahaha. That was classic. Def not cisterns cause they’re not deep at all. It looks like something they were using as storage cause of the back accessible with hatch door and all. I think bricks are gonna fill the pit. You guys recommend using sand lined? Or instead of bricks how about small rocks like the ones for concrete. I can’t afford to fill the pit with concrete right now.

 

[TractorJeff]

Fill it with Road Gravel or PA2A (whatever your local Gravel Pit calls it).
No need to buy Bricks or Stone, definitely don't need to spend money filling it with Concrete!

 

[Housenewb]

Fill it with Road Gravel or PA2A (whatever your local Gravel Pit calls it).
No need to buy Bricks or Stone, definitely don't need to spend money filling it with Concrete!

That’s a great idea and the best approach so far, affordable. Because there is a hatch through the back I might need to build a little brick wall to contain the gravel from spilling through the back.