MOTOR-CAR MANSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20306, 13 July 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

MOTOR-CAR MANSIONS.

LONDON'S WONDER GARAGES.

| ,VERY COSTLY CONSTRUCTIONS. An immense stone, palace-like building six storeys high, and costing £590,000, is likely to be the garage of the future if plans which have gained the Royal Institute of British Architects' £350 prize for the perfect garage for London's theatre district are generally adopted. There will be accommodation for 750 motor-cars in this luxury car warren, and they will enter and leave by different

There will be accommodation for 750 motor-cars in this luxury car warren, and they will enter and leave by different streets to avoid creating traffic blocks. The vehicles will bo driven up ramps to the various floors, and one-way traffic rules will prevent any possibility of collisions. When damaged cars come in for repairs they will bo taken up to top-floor workshops by a specially-installed lift.Not only will cars find spacious accommodation. but their chauffeurs will bo able to uso finely-appointed bathrooms, lounges, writing rooms and waiting rooms. There will be cleaning rooni3 and repair shops in this wonder garage, while a telephone system between each floor and a central office will decrease the chances of car thieves. Spacing will bo so well designed that any car will be able to reach the most distant spot without delay. A £1,000,000 garage covering an island si to of 55,000 squaro feet was started last year near Baker Street Station. Its eight floors will accommodate 3000 cars. A wonderful system of signalling devices enables cars to be stored and brought out again with unerring accuracy. When an owner's disc is handed in a car can bo found and brought to street level within three minutes!

Two other garage marvels are also being built in London. Eight storeys high, and holding 1000 cars, with subterranean motor-coach stations, restaurants, waiting rooms, and shops, they are the forerunners of others that will appear in various parts of London.