The Old Motor Car Showrooms
Converting an old Art-Deco style ‘home for cars’ into new ‘homes for people’
Client
Columbia Threadneedle
Area
5,500 sqm
Use
Residential-led Mixed Use
Status
Planning Approved
Somewhere amongst the retail detritus currently on this site is a locally listed landmark, built in the Art-Deco style in 1935, at a time when the motor car was applauded as modern and glamorous!
The original building boasted a restaurant, a roof garden, and an orchestra stage and was celebrated at the time as ‘Kent’s finest motor garage’.
Now it’s a ‘Wickes’, and probably not ‘Kent’s finest’ one either.
Our design restores the best bits of the original building and then mirrors its ‘streamlined’ 1930s elevation around an existing central brick drum - to create a symmetrical façade that greatly enhances the civic presence of the site.
The scheme creates 61 new apartments and sweeps away years of unsympathetic extensions, alterations, and mobile telecoms infrastructure – to provide, once again, a forward-looking building that locals can be proud of.
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/852098_4d90cf7a1a454aed9ada4b86b9233448~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/852098_4d90cf7a1a454aed9ada4b86b9233448~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/852098_0a0a78c7044c41f4a3c791d6b72ee49b~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_551,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/852098_0a0a78c7044c41f4a3c791d6b72ee49b~mv2.jpg)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/852098_4218ff640fec4656b43d9833723e9c47~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_980,h_551,al_c,q_90,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/852098_4218ff640fec4656b43d9833723e9c47~mv2.png)
![](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/852098_4d90cf7a1a454aed9ada4b86b9233448~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_980,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/852098_4d90cf7a1a454aed9ada4b86b9233448~mv2.jpg)