By Philip Butler. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell.
An enchanting photographic celebration of Britain's ubiquitous and idiosyncratic car garages
You might use a local garage to change a tire or replace your spark plugs, but when was the last time you pulled over and took a good look at the building itself? In the spirit of Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), British photographer Philip Butler (born 1980) has done just that. Over six years, he traveled the length and breadth of Britain photographing these diverse, eccentric and idiosyncratic buildings. As motoring became popular in the early 1900s, the need for mechanical expertise to service, repair, refuel and sell vehicles soared—and the "garage" was born. From the Mock Tudor fad of the 1920s via the Streamline Moderne of the 1930s to the simple modernist rationalism of postwar Britain, each era has produced a distinct automotive architecture. A diverse array of structures—churches, cinemas, railway arches, fire stations, shops, factories—all proved versatile enough to find second lives as garages. As the era of the combustion engine draws to a close, Butler's enchanting photographs document the charm and personality of these survivors of the gasoline age. Philip Butler is a Worcestershire-based photographer documenting the remains of Great Britain's interwar architecture.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The Guardian
Mee-Lai Stone
From the mock-Tudor fad of the 1920s to drivers refuelling on a roundabout, each era produces its own distinctive petrol stations – as photographer Philip Butler discovered
Wallpaper*
Jonathan Bell
Arranged typographically, this is a wonderful survey of an overlooked typology, one that might find itself sliding even further into redundancy as the electric era dawns.
Design Boom
Thomai Tsimpou
Across these 226 sites, Butler documents the cultural footprint of the combustion engine. As Britain moves toward an electric future, the book preserves the memory of a century when garages and petrol stations were landmarks rooted in their communities.
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FORMAT: Hbk, 8 x 6.5 in. / 248 pgs / 226 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $34.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $48.95 ISBN: 9781739887896 PUBLISHER: FUEL Publishing AVAILABLE: 9/9/2025 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by FUEL Publishing. By Philip Butler. Edited by Damon Murray, Stephen Sorrell.
An enchanting photographic celebration of Britain's ubiquitous and idiosyncratic car garages
You might use a local garage to change a tire or replace your spark plugs, but when was the last time you pulled over and took a good look at the building itself? In the spirit of Ed Ruscha's Twentysix Gasoline Stations (1963), British photographer Philip Butler (born 1980) has done just that. Over six years, he traveled the length and breadth of Britain photographing these diverse, eccentric and idiosyncratic buildings.
As motoring became popular in the early 1900s, the need for mechanical expertise to service, repair, refuel and sell vehicles soared—and the "garage" was born. From the Mock Tudor fad of the 1920s via the Streamline Moderne of the 1930s to the simple modernist rationalism of postwar Britain, each era has produced a distinct automotive architecture. A diverse array of structures—churches, cinemas, railway arches, fire stations, shops, factories—all proved versatile enough to find second lives as garages. As the era of the combustion engine draws to a close, Butler's enchanting photographs document the charm and personality of these survivors of the gasoline age.
Philip Butler is a Worcestershire-based photographer documenting the remains of Great Britain's interwar architecture.
