Mick Hartley

The quirky old individual garages are almost gone now, replaced by charmless corporate self-service sites. Photographer Philip Butler captured some of the survivors, and some old relics, before they disappear for ever. From his book 226 Garages and Service Stations.

As motoring became popular in the early 1900s, the need for mechanical expertise to service, repair, refuel, and sell vehicles soared – and the ‘garage’ was born. From the Mock-Tudor fad of the 1920s via the Streamline Moderne of the 1930s, to the simple Modernist rationalism of postwar Britain, each era has produced a distinct automotive architecture. With the introduction of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) vehicle test in the 1960s, demand accelerated still further. A diverse array of structures was utilised – churches, cinemas, railway arches, fire stations, shops, factories – all proved versatile enough to find second lives as garages.

_{Black Cat Garage, Bampton, Devon}

_{St John’s Garage 1947, Whithorn, Wigtownshire}

_{Garage, Southbourne, Dorset}

_{Former Colyford Filling Station, Devon}

_{Michelin House, Chelsea, London}

_{Silver Street Garage, Kedington, Suffolk}

_{Former C B Attride Motor Engineers, Broadstairs, Kent}

_{Former Athenaeum Service Station, Islington, London}

_{Former Condor Services, Costock, Nottinghamshire}

_{Manor Road Garage, East Preston, West Sussex}

_{Double-S service station, Ashton, Cornwall}

_{Four Lanes Garage, Marston, Cheshire}

_{[Photos © Philip Butler]}