Hidden treasures: the world of underground luxury supercar garages

Set within the grounds of a country house, this Batcave-influenced basement bunker provides space for 15 supercars and features convenient turntables. Entry is via a car lift.
This basement mancave beneath a garage is accessed via a car lift whose supports can be removed to keep the display space clear.
Entry to this bunker space below the gardens of a large country house is via a hydraulic lift-up lid that opens onto a semi-circular ramp. Inside, there’s parking for at least 25 cars.
LED lighting, powered by on-site-generated renewable electricity, spotlights the client’s Porsche, reflected in a mirrored wall. To the side is an entertainment area.
This project involved remodelling an existing stable block. The converted space houses eight cars, with a revolving turntable for display and improved manoeuvrability

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5 mins read

2 January 2025

Car enthusiasts are often obsessive collectors, not just in the list of machines they own but all sorts of accessories and tools. So it was perhaps only natural that ultra-luxury collectors would eventually focus on the place where those cars are stored: the garage.

No, not a cheap pre-fab with a single light bulb; instead, a ‘gallery space’ in which they can display their motor (more likely motors), perhaps with a lounge area, a bar, maybe even a turntable that rises and falls so they and their friends can admire their latest wheels from all angles.

Right now, eight car enthusiasts somewhere in the world are enjoying their car collections with their own, even more ambitious and impressive gallery spaces, both above and below the ground.

They’re clients of London-based architect Jonathan Clark and a division of his architecture practice Garage Deluxe, a business he launched four years ago with the aim of combining his passions of cars and architecture.

“Ever since boyhood trips with my father to the Earl’s Court motor show, I’ve been interested in cars,” explains Clark. “Today, in addition to my everyday cars, a Porsche Macan and a Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet, I have an Alfa Romeo Spider 3.2 and a Ferrari 575 Superamerica. I like cars and I understand why other people like them.”

Throughout, of course, he’s had a living to earn, which is where the architecture comes in. Earlier in his career, Clark was involved in major projects that included the Lord’s Cricket Ground media centre and the National Portrait Gallery extension.

However, it was his work designing animal welfare centres that opened his eyes to the benefits of specialising.

“Bars, restaurants, schools, offices: I’ve designed them all,” he says. “But with the animal centres, I discovered there was a market for niche projects. I thought my ideal niche project would be something to do with cars and soon realised most luxury garages are one-off projects. I decided to specialise in them.”

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The early days of his new business were spent meeting car and automobilia collectors, furniture designers and people in the lift and turntable industries who could help him realise his most ambitious ideas.

However, meeting clients wasn’t so straightforward. “Our clients are people well below the radar,” says Clark. “We don’t find them, they find us, and having done so, they insist on complete discretion.”

Given the values of their collections, that’s no surprise. Years ago, when cars were less valuable, it was okay for a collector to put them in an old barn or garage. But now they’re worth much more, so wealthy owners are keen to store them properly and display them securely.

“If you have a Monet, you’re not going to hang it in a cold, damp room out of the way,” says Clark. “You want to hang it where it can be admired and where it’s safe.

The same applies to valuable classics and supercars. You can store them in secure, off-site locations with other cars, but what’s the point in that? You can’t see them or enjoy them readily and neither can your friends.”

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Clark is currently overseeing six projects, with a further two in the pipeline. One of the company’s two UK builds is underground and has room for up to 100 cars.

Another underground project, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has space for 50. However, it’s not the number of cars that can be accommodated but how they’re displayed and the environment in which they’re displayed that matters more to clients.

Clark says: “I’ve been to many collections where the cars are displayed in a simple space with a table and chairs. They look like showrooms. Instead, at one of our projects, the client enters a large area with a bar and dining room overlooking two cars mounted on turntables that rise and fall; the rest of the collection is behind a sliding screen. The idea is he curates the display, changing it at intervals, so one week it’s red sports cars, another it’s supercars and so on.”

For a gallery space in Spain, the client has requested a cigar bar and a gaming area. “It’s like an underground gentleman’s club,” says Clark. “We’re using materials including rough-cast concrete but clad in soft leather so he can’t damage his cars when he moves them.”

Clark’s project in Abu Dhabi is actually a workshop for a company that prepares and races Mercedes 300 SLs. In addition to mechanical, bodyshop and paint bays, there will be a client area.

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“Classic cars are becoming very popular in the UAE,” says Clark. “Few people there notice if you’re driving the latest supercar, but they notice if you’re driving an old, sought-after classic.”

For private clients, the company’s luxury creations are more than just garages. “Our spaces are for not only the cars but also our clients to relax and entertain,” explains Clark.

“We have lots of contacts in the automobilia and design worlds who can supply pretty much whatever is requested. One client wanted his seats upholstered exactly like those in his Ferrari Daytona. Another provided his own wall art: the engine from his Porsche that had blown up.”

Design_North, an interior design practice in Newcastle, is another UK firm that’s active in the luxury garage world. Its director, Scott Stewart, is a car enthusiast who found himself designing a garage interior for a client with a collection of hypercars. The job got him thinking about creating a luxury garage brand.

“I settled on the name Hypercave, with the aim of it becoming a recognisable brand so people might name it in the same breath as any top label,” he explains. He created some design concepts, posted them on Instagram and waited…

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“Very soon I had my first client for a job we’ve just completed,” says Stewart. “We call it Hypercave 01; they will all be numbered. The client is based in the UK and has a farm producing renewable energy. Naturally, he’s into electric cars, and he asked us to convert some of his outbuildings into a Hypercave for his Tesla Cybertruck and Tesla Roadster. It’s a futuristic-looking space inspired by the sci-fi movie Tron and is very brightly lit using the farm’s renewable energy stored in a Tesla Powerwall. Universal Pictures have seen images and have expressed an interest in filming inside it.”

The same client commissioned Hypercave 02 for his collection of Land Rover Defenders. In keeping with the vehicle’s image, the space uses natural materials and is darker and less dramatic, like a woodland canopy.

Both ‘garages’ feature a prominent Hypercave logo. Meanwhile, Stewart’s focus is on three new and even more ambitious Hypercave projects: two in Dubai, both underground and another in Jeddah.

His and Clark’s Garage Deluxe creations aren’t cheap, but then neither are the cars stored in them. And they'll certainly look good in their new homes.