From 1900-25, automobile ownership in the United States exploded. Simultaneously, the construction of garages boomed. In the early 1920s. Garages were being built like crazy around the University District.
Unlike the monster three car garages of today’s suburban snouthouses, these garages were modest, even tiny, structures that kept the weather off a Model A Ford or a Nash Roadster and nothing else. They were placed at the rear of the lot, fronting on the alley. Sometimes they mimicked the house’s architecture. More often they resembled sheds or barns.
In the intervening 90 years, many of these were torn down for surface lots or neglected to the point that they fell down. A surprising number survive. Some still house automobiles. Many more are storage areas for nameless, long-forgotten junk. Some have been converted to other uses. |
