Revved Up!

Nevermind pahking the cah on Hahvahd Yahd, this is where premium vehicles are yearning to be when they’re not in the fast lane. We explore the designs of four gleaming, high-octane auto salons (we couldn't possibly call them garages) that are home to high-performance Porsches, thundering Ferraris, classic Mercedes and Corvettes and Minis with big dreams.

Photography: Chuck Choi, Marcus Gleysteen

Conceived by Marcus Gleysteen of MGa | Marcus Gleysteen Architects and interior designer Anthony Catalfano of Anthony Catalfano Interiors, this Weston car gallery was designed with three components: an exhibition space for the owner’s three prized rides (an Enzo Ferrari, a vintage Corvette and a 2012 Porsche GT3 six speed), a more utilitarian garage that houses four vehicles on the lower level and four on the lifts overhead, and a lounge area where the collectors in the family “can watch TV and have a beer,” says Marcus Gleysteen. 

The lounge area stops traffic, and boasts a vibe that is “very modern, clean, Italian and sexy,” says Anthony Catalfano. It merges contemporary Italian furnishings, including blackglove leather couches, with custom cabinetry, including a Ferrari-red floating console with a high buff finish by Wayne Towle Master Finishing and Restoration. 

Maverick Integration equipped the salon with the full technology of the main house, using invisible speakers in both wings. When the homeowners play music or use any of the sound of the technology, “it’s all hidden to keep the integrity of the uncluttered, clean-lined space,” says design consultant John Bray.
 

Photography: Marcus Gleysteen

This tented three-car garage, also by MGa | Marcus Gleysteen Architects, was inspired by the owner’s travels to Saudi Arabia, and the stretch canopies at the Hajj Terminal East airport. This award-winning project was conceived as “a folly,” says architect Marcus Gleysteen, and, initially designed to utilize a surplus of glass from the build of the main home. In the end, the contractor found it to be easier and less expensive to work with clear, half-inch tempered glass, leaving the Mondrian-esque sliding doors the only vestige of the original design. Its tent, which is illuminated at night, was made by the same company that produced the Bank of America Pavilion on the waterfront, and is the smallest project the firm has done.

As the sculptural carport is located on a ridge overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, sloping steel columns were attached to concrete footings as stays. The engineers had to ensure that the structure wouldn’t get carried away. “The uplift on this point when the wind blows at 50mph is 70,000 pounds,” explains Gleysteen.

Photography: Greg Premru, Richard Mandelkorn

Principal Patrick Ahearn FAIA of Patrick Ahearn Architect puts a classic, Islander spin on his car barn, located on Martha's Vineyard. An avid auto enthusiast, Ahearn often finds inspiration for his architecture in the lines and designs of vintage automobiles, so it follows that he’d create a home for the dream machines he has restored, including a fire-engine red 1960’s Corvette and a hunter green Porsche Speedster.

For this construct, he reinvented the livery stables of old, modeling it after the “upscale New England barns one would have found in historic towns like Concord, Mass.,” says Ahearn. In keeping with tradition, he reused flooring from a mill building in Maine as well as other reclaimed materials like old beams and timbers, and a stone veneer on the exposed foundation. He made a point of keeping the first level freestanding (the second level boasts a guest quarters) and devoid of columns to make the space easy for cars to navigate, and incorporated plenty of brick and beadboard, a Vineyard staple. A “man cave” area, complete with a sitting area and TV, heating and AC, provides a place to kick back and admire the four-wheeled investments.

Photography: Keitaro Yoshioka

This Shingle-Style car barn in South Dartmouth was designed as a stable for a fun-loving owner’s six candy-colored cars. Each vehicle—a red Nissan, orange Lamborghini, yellow BMW, green Porsche, blue Subaru and purple Rolls Royce—is wrapped in a color inspired by ROYGBIV, the hues of the rainbow. Sounds Good Corporation, the home automation firm that designed and installed the garage’s security cameras, incorporated LED lights in each stall color matched to the tone of each car. 

A separate Ferrari Room is attached to the basement of the main home, which houses the homeowner’s favorite sports car, a lounge area decked out in all things “Ferrari,” a retro gasoline pump and even a racecar simulator.