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The Car Project

Cars have changed forever the way that England looks. Because of them, we view towns and the countryside differently. Roads and the needs of traffic have arguably become a more important part of the landscape than buildings and people. New roads have changed the way we move around towns and cross the country, and new types of buildings that didn’t exist a century ago have been created to serve the needs of cars.

Older buildings, meanwhile, have sometimes suffered by being seen as out of date, built for a world of simpler technology. The destruction of historic buildings across England in the past century has often been caused by the increasing demands that cars have placed on our towns and villages. It was widely assumed for most of the 20th century that ample car parking and broad roads were more important to the economic success of England than historic buildings and streets.

To address these issues, English Heritage has embarked on The Car Project. The focus of this project will be the impact of the car on places and buildings throughout England, from the 1890s to the present day.

In particular, it will examine how established urban centres and neighbourhoods were adapted to accommodate the car, and how this affected their appearance and character. It will study the response of 20th century planners and architects to the requirements of the motor car, both in reshaping older communities and creating new ones. In addition, it will trace the evolution of the building types specifically invented for cars and try to ascertain the extent of survival of these buildings. The project will present these developments within their regional and national and, where appropriate, international context.

The Tower Garage, Egham bypass, Surrey is now Maranello Garage, for many years the importers of Ferrari into Britain. It was built in 1935 by the architects Rix & Rix, for Vauxhall dealers, the Egham Motor Co. A fine example of the inter-war modern style, listed Grade II, it has been extended at each end.

Building for Cars

Cars have been with us for well over one hundred years. As they became commonplace, they led to a whole range of new building types being developed: car showrooms, repair garages, filling stations, domestic lock-up garages, car parks, roadhouses, motels and drive-through restaurants, among others. As some of these buildings pass their centenary, they are increasingly under threat.

To give three examples: the success of supermarket petrol retailing now brings about the closure of around 600 filling stations per annum – in the 1970s, there were over 70,000 filling stations in Britain, today there are fewer than 10,000; secondly, the complexity of car mechanics/electronics is driving many small-scale maintenance garages out of business, leaving gaps for residential development on the edges of town centres; and thirdly, domestic garages (motor houses) built before 1970 are usually too small for modern cars and are thus highly vulnerable to conversion/demolition. At the same time, car showrooms are relocating from expensive and cramped city centre sites to business parks on ring roads.

In new towns such as Milton Keynes, we can see an example of how entirely new communities were created with the needs of the car paramount in the minds of the planners. Here, we see how every building, not just those specifically related to the car, was designed to facilitate car-based movement around the city. On the edge of many established towns and cities, meanwhile, are the ‘shopping sheds’ and acres of surface car parking that have sprung up along ring roads in the last twenty years, creating a wholly new landscape that is dependent entirely on the use of cars.

Because the car has been such a great influence on both landscapes and on the way we live, it is important that we understand the significance of these car-related buildings and structures. We need to put them in context and develop criteria for assessing their significance. This will enable decisions relating to designation and the future role of these buildings to be properly informed and based on sound research.

St Crispin’s Road as it crosses Magdalen Street, Norwich

The motor car had a dramatic impact on the appearance of many of England’s most historic towns and cities when inner ring roads were driven through them in the 1960s and 70s. Here, St Crispin’s Road cuts straight across the medieval fabric of Norwich as it crosses Magdalen Street on a flyover built in 1971.

Cars and the Landscape

Cars themselves pose a threat to the historic environment in a number of different ways. In the countryside, land is swallowed up under airport car parks and motorway widening schemes whilst in suburbs the increasing occurrence of restricted kerbside parking has meant that front gardens are being destroyed by the practice of laying hard standing.

Major national issues also have important implications for the future of motoring. The increase in population and splintering of family units in England means a greatly increased number of cars. So too does the government’s policy of encouraging much expanded house building in the south-east. How will these extra cars be accommodated? The continuing threat makes this a good time to assess the impact that the car has had on the historic environment, before the pace of change accelerates to a point where a clear assessment can no longer be made.

Former Colvin Brothers garage, Flimwell, East Sussex

Built in 1926 and originally incorporating a café, this filling station with its half-timbered gable and clapboarded walls was designed to fit in to its village setting. It is today used as offices for a coach firm.

The aims of the project

As its name implies, The Car Project is limited to the impact of the car: commercial vehicles or public transport are not included. Fieldwork and research for the project is underway with a substantial, well-illustrated book due to be published in 2011.

Preliminary findings indicate that while the ranks of early motoring buildings have been dramatically thinned over the years, there are still significant survivals, many little known outside their immediate area.

A number of places for case studies have been selected, covering major cities, country towns, examples of post-war replanning, garden cities and new towns. Through the use of these case studies, together with many other individual examples from around England, we aim to make a comprehensive assessment of how the invention of the car has changed our urban and rural environments. By means of new types of building, the adaptation and loss of older types, and the creation of a radically new means of moving around and experiencing the towns and countryside of England, the car has altered how we view the built environment, both as motorists and pedestrians. The Car Project will capture the nature of that change at a moment when it is accelerating and threatens to subsume important evidence about the role of the car in shaping England’s historic environment.

Trinity Square Car Park, Gateshead became perhaps the most famous multi-storey car park in England following its use as a location in the film ‘Get Carter’. It displays the sculptural qualities achieved by its architects, the Owen Luder Partnership in much of their 1960s work. Due for demolition in 2008, it has been recorded for the Car Project.