Vintage Photographs of Early Colossal Vertical Parking Garages, 1920-1960 – Design You Trust — Design Daily Since 2007

Vintage Photographs of Early Colossal Vertical Parking Garages, 1920-1960

Freestanding 48 Car Elevator Parking Garage in Downtown Chicago’s business district, Built by the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, 1936.

The rapid rise of automobiles at the turn of the 20th century presented an immediate problem: where to park all these vehicles roaming in the streets?

The concept for the vertical parking garages was and is driven by two factors: a need for parking spaces and a scarcity of available land. The earliest use of the vertical parking solution was in Paris, France in 1905 at the Garage Rue de Ponthieu. The systems consisted of a groundbreaking multi-story concrete structure with an internal car elevator to transport cars to upper levels where attendants parked the cars.

h/t: rarehistoricalphotos

A vertical parking machine, 1930s.

The earliest such parking systems in the US appeared in L.A., New York, and Chicago in the 1920s. For the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair, the Nash Motor Company created the first glass-enclosed parking system. During this time, Kent Automatic Garages was installing automated parking systems with capacities exceeding 1,000 cars.

Citroen cars in Le Marbeuf garage in Paris, designed by architects Albert Laprade and L. E. Bazin. 1930s.

The popularity of automatic parking systems ultimately waned due to the long wait times required for customers to retrieve their cars, but they can still be found in cities worldwide especially in Asia.

Le Marbeuf garage in Paris. 1930.

Le Marbeuf garage in Paris. 1930.

A vertical parking lot structure in Chicago. 1940s.

The Nash Motors automobile elevator display at the Century of Progress International Exposition in Chicago. 1933.

Vertical parking garage in Chicago, 1936.

The Autorimessa Piazzale Roma, a garage in Piazzale Roma, Venice, Italy. 1950s.

The Autorimessa Piazzale Roma, a garage in Piazzale Roma, Venice, Italy. 1950s.

A man parks a car with the help of a forklift. 1955.

An “autosilo” garage in Karlsruhe, Germany. 1955.

The central well of an automatic car park in England. 1960s.

A car teeters at the top of a paternoster parking elevator as a result of a broken bolt in Denver, Colorado. 1970s.

If you want more awesome content, subscribe to 'Design You Trust Facebook page. You won't be disappointed.

More Inspiring Stories

Marketing Strategies of the 1960s-1980s: Women in Miniskirts Promote Computer Systems

Before The Computers: Looking Back On Typewriters Era

Wonderful Photos Of Postwar New York City In 1946 By Todd Webb

Belgian Guy Documents Ugly Houses He Sees And They’re So Bad, It’s Hilarious

Is It A Billboard? No, It's A Building!

Marilyn Monroe Wishing You All a Happy Fourth of July

General Motors' Miraculously Surviving Electric Car Found in A Parking Lot — May Be the Last EV1 in The World

"Terminal City": Extraordinary Photos Of Vancouver 1972-1982

UK Shed Of The Year Finalists

These Prefab Coral Shaped Structures Are Designed to Be Self-Sustaining Centres for The Coastal Community

Inspiring & Rare Color Photographs Of Everyday Life In Hong Kong From The Photographer Fan Ho

Hundreds Of Rainbow Glass Panels Emit A Rotating Kaleidoscope In A Playful Chinese Kindergarten

"Someone Else's Dream": ’80s-Inspired Illustrations by James White

MVRDV Architecture Bureau for the China Comic and Animation Museum

This Lamborghini Countach Limousine Was a Car and a Half, Quite Literally!

Probably, The Most Cozy And Beautiful Toilet In The World With Views Of A Norwegian Waterfall

This Is How Soviets Imagined 21st Century Will Look Like: The Soviet Eera Sci-Fi Mag That Wanted To Predict The Future

The Oddbody Furby Community Turns '90s Kids' Toys Into Lovely Nightmares

"Death On The Dance Floor": Photographer Captured Stunning Photos Of Abandoned Discos Around France

Stunning Socialist-Era Architecture: The Brutalism Of Zagreb, Croatia

The Qajar Series, Inspired by The Studio Portraiture First Introduced to Iran in The Late 19th Century

Photographer Franck Bohbot Captured Vintage Tennis Court In California

Arnold Genthe’s Cats : Women Posing With ‘Buzzer’ From A Century Ago

Is this New Hotel in Amsterdam the “Hotel of the Future”?

Mechanical Secrets of Moving Gorillas in "King Kong", 1933

Stunning Photos Of The Notre Dame Cathedral Covered By Sandbags During The World War I

People In Montreal Are Playing On Light-Filled Seesaws This Winter

"The Control Panel Archive": The Tactile Beauty Of Buttons, Meters, Knobs And Dials

Vintage Photos Capture Lovely Moments Of Australian Children In The Summer

Vintage Photos of Cars During Winter in the 1950s and ’60s