They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

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In a world in which the number of cars continues to grow, parking can become a real issue. Japan, Tokyo in particular, has come up with some clever ideas, of which owning a car only if you can park it is just one. But back in the 1920s, in New York, another ingenious idea was brought into action. It was called the Car Elevator and was designed as a space-saving parking solution.

The one pictured here was one of two of them in use in New York (this one was in Manhattan) at the end of the roaring 1920s. But we understand there was another one even as early as 1905 at Garage Rue de Ponthieu in Paris. Wouldn’t it be great to see a picture of that, too?

Hotel for Autos

The New York ones were built by a Mr Milton A. Kent. From an article of the period in the New York Times: "Traffic congestion in New York City has become such a serious problem that a special parking garage, or more properly a hotel for automobiles, is now being erected near Times Square after the design pictured above. Cars are handled automatically — all the attendants have to do is drive the automobile onto the elevator, press the proper button, and the car is whisked to the correct floor and stored in its individual stall, all without the need of human assistance."

It did indeed save lots of space, as Kent’s ‘Hotel for Autos’ could park eight cars in the ground space normally used for parking two of them. It does make you wonder why they didn’t become more of a success. Kent’s automatic parking garage eventually disappeared and the only thing left of it today is the car entrance in beautiful Art Deco style from the one on Columbus Avenue.

Words by Jeroen Booij.

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