philip butler captures britain's petrol age through 226 garages and service stations

"Photographer Philip Butler turns his lens on a vanishing piece of Britain's built landscape in his book 226 Garages and Service Stations. The publication catalogues the nation's petrol age in 252 pages, capturing an architectural lineage that spans Mock-Tudor fantasies, streamlined moderne curves, and humble repair shops tucked into railway arches or converted chapels. Published in the spirit of Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), Butler's survey reveals how the evolution of motoring shaped the architectural vernacular of the 20th century."

"Worcestershire-based photographer Philip Butler also highlights adaptive reuse through 226 Garages and Service Stations. As demand for vehicle testing surged in the 1960s, disused cinemas, churches, fire stations, and even factories were pressed into service. St John's Garage in Wigtownshire, once a Presbyterian church, and a former fire station at Hythe, illustrate the improvisational quality of British motoring infrastructure. Some abandoned sites found gentler afterlives: a decommissioned filling station in Withypool, Devon, now serves as a tearoom popular with bikers and classic car enthusiasts."

"Certain landmarks, however, remain architectural showpieces. Michelin House in Chelsea, completed in 1911 by François Espinasse, fused British Art Nouveau with the French tire company's branding, its stained glass, glazed terracotta tiles, and tire-shaped cupolas setting a benchmark for corporate architecture. In Leeds, Appleyard's Neo-Georgian garage by Sir Reginald Blomfield (1932) married municipal formality with automotive convenience, complete with an octagonal hut and circular forecourt."

A photographic survey catalogs Britain's petrol-age built landscape, portraying garages and service stations across the twentieth century. The images show stylistic range from Mock-Tudor fantasies and streamlined moderne curves to modest repair shops tucked into railway arches and converted chapels. Many sites reflect adaptive reuse: cinemas, churches, fire stations and factories converted for vehicle testing, while some decommissioned filling stations became tearooms for bikers and classic-car enthusiasts. Landmark examples include Michelin House in Chelsea, which fuses British Art Nouveau with corporate branding, and Appleyard's Neo-Georgian garage in Leeds, which blends municipal formality with automotive convenience.

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