During the 1930s motor car ownership spread as the price of a car was reduced by mass production methods. The practise of keeping cars in private former stables and servicing them with the help of converted stable lads changed as ownership spread to the middle classes.

Lacking the space and facilities of their own, the new owners needed the services of purpose built garages and petrol stations. These were often converted from buildings which had been in use for instance as a blacksmith's workshop or an iron-mongers' store. Typically there was a workshop for repairs with petrol pumps in front. After World War II these gradually gave way to purpose built petrol stations normally built with an ancillary workshop and a car-wash.

Parallel with these local developments, car parking buildings were constructed in large towns, and elaborate and stylish motor showrooms occupied prestigious parts of the larger towns and cities. Car hire firms needed similarly prestigious buildings though not necessarily in such conspicuous locations.

This important example of art deco architecture as applied to a multi-storey garage was built to serve a prestigious car hire company. It has latterly been converted for use as the London office of what is claimed to be the most powerful advertising agency in the world, McCann Erickson. It has been sensitively adapted to its new use and is now a spectacular workplace which manages to respect its original design.