The Early Public Garages of San Francisco: An Architectural and Cultural Study, 1906-1929

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This book investigates a group of noteworthy public garages featuring facade designs based on historical architectural styles. Considering the garages’ function, the facades exhibit a surprising grace and nobility. Through an analysis complemented by photography and drawings, the author dissects the architectural and cultural factors that lie at the heart of this unexpected merit. Addressing the discrepancy between the buildings’ beauty and the assumption that old garages are unsightly and disposable, the book examines them as cultural artefacts of the dawn of the Motor Age. The garage is presented as a new form of transportation depot, employing architectural symbolism to celebrate the ascendancy of the automobile over the train. As the automobile gained acceptance and transformed the American landscape, this symbolism lost immediacy, eventually falling into obscurity. Today, the buildings are vulnerable to real estate development, in part because their quality is misunderstood. The book–a fresh perspective on the value of older utilitarian buildings–concludes with a call to preserve these structures and adapt them to compatible new uses.