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The City of Ormond Beach, Florida proudly titles itself the "Birthplace of Speed" with a long history of auto racing that started in 1902 on the hard packed beach sand when automobiles were new and existing roads were poor.
Racers lined up on Ormond Beach, courtesy the Florida State Archives
After the Winton Bullet won a Challenge Cup against the Olds Pirate by a breathtaking two-tenths of a second in 1903, Ormond Beach established itself as the ideal proving ground for automobile designers and racing aficionados from around the world. Motorcycle and automobile owners and drivers brought vehicles powered by gasoline, steam and electric engines, sometimes cruising at over 100 miles per hour along the ocean side. You can see actual race footage on the beach from 1905 on YouTube at Ormond Beach Florida Auto Races.
On January 26, 1906, F.E. Stanley’s Rocket Racer, driven by dare-devil Fred Marriott, set the mark that became Ormond Beach’s most famous land speed record. The incredible speed record of 127.659 mph held for four years - Image courtesy the Florida State Archives
While autos may still drive along the beach, beach racing is now only commemorated at Birthplace of Speed Park, located on A1A at the intersection of SR40. The park has a series of markers telling the story of racing and provide wonderful views of the ocean.
View of the ocean from Birthplace of Speed Park in Ormond Beach. What an amazing place to work!
Glenn Hammond Curtiss set a land speed record of 136.4 mph on his motorcycle on Ormond Beach in 1907. Other markers are located around the park.
The park used to showcase two replicas of the two history-changing racers, the Winton Bullet and the Olds Pirate, but the ocean climate made maintaining the cars difficult and they were removed for repairs. Members of the Motor Racing Heritage Association decided that it would be ideal to bring back another piece of Ormond Beach racing history and place it in the park to protect the replica cars.
The replica cars that were on display in the park.
The Ormond Garage was built in 1904 by Henry Flagler, railroad magnate and owner of the Ormond Hotel, to accommodate participating race cars during the beach races (and to keep them away from the front of his hotel). The large garage housed the drivers and mechanics during the speed time trials, while the owners and manufacturers stayed at the hotel.
The Ormond Garage stayed the center of racing for many years, later storing antique cars and racing memorabilia, but unfortunately burned down in 1976.
While much larger than could be accommodated within the park, the old garage was to serve as design inspiration for a new structure to house and protect the replica race cars in Birthplace of Speed Park. The Motor Racing Heritage Association began fund raising in order to build the garage, and came to Historic Shed to discuss the project. After a few design iterations to make the project more affordable, and a couple of years of fund raising, the project was officially launched at the end of 2012. Last week, the interior was completed and the first of the replica cars will move in shortly.
Installation of the new garage building in Birthplace of Speed Park by Historic Shed.
The garage was hand-lettered by Spike Signs giving it the perfect accent and reference to the original garage.
Marker in front of the new garage telling the history of the two replica cars.
The garage was dedicated on March 28th, 2013, 110 years after the race that made the beach world famous.
A sign was posted on the side of the garage about the project and its supporters. The sign is shaped like one that decorated the original garage. Other memorabilia saved from the historic garage will be added to the new garage.
The finished garage sits nicely with the existing marker for an accent.
The new Ormond Garage pays homage to the original in a scaled down version
The garage interior was finished with grooved cedar boards.
The Olds Pirate replica inside the garage
The new Ormond Garage in its park setting.
This very fun project would not have been the same without Suzanne Heddy, Director of the Ormond Beach Historical Society and Motor Racing Heritage Association Treasurer; Ron Piasecki, President of the Motor Racing Heritage Association, Inc.; and Dan Smith, Hometown News writer and Motor Racing Heritage Association's "Go To Guy" and the numerous other racing history fans in the area. We offer so many thanks for their direction, entertainment and support!
Some more info on the garage project and racing history can be found at these links:
A tribute to the famous Ormond Garage 1904-1976
Ormond Garage replica going up in Speed Park
City’s heritage on display with new replica garage
Green shed marks auto racing's starting line
The History of Speed in Ormond Beach
Motor Racing Heritage Association
Ormond Beach Historical Society
We designed what I consider our cutest shed to date (it is pink, after all) for a 1920s jerkinhead Florida bungalow with Craftsman and Tudor influences. The stucco house has a prominent chimney on the front elevation, rounded rafter tails, wonderful arched brackets supporting broad eaves, and decorative cut outriggers on the clipped gable ends. The owners contacted Historic Shed for a series of home improvement projects including building a new fence and custom gate, installing new carriage house style doors on the historic garage, and constructing a new jerkinhead shed.
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| With the exception of replacement windows at the sunporch, this romantic bungalow remains largely unaltered with many great architectural details |
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| Decorative elements on the main elevation |
The first project we undertook at the bungalow was to relocate the side fence towards the front of the property in order to increase the backyard size. As part of the fence relocation, we installed a custom cypress gate with a speakeasy door with metal grill. The arch of the gate door was designed to reflect the arched front door of the home.
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| Arched garden gate |
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| Speakeasy door detail |
The historic garage on the property was largely intact, complete with a historic screened addition on one side, but with a 1950s-era metal garage door that looked out of character on the building. Historic Shed built and installed new carriage house type doors made of cypress bead board hung with heave duty strap hinges for a more compatible historic appearance.
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| Garage with new carriage house style doors installed |
The new outbuilding project that we constructed at the home was an 8'x10' jerkinhead shed that incorporated design elements from both the main house and historic garage. The owners were exploring ideas to hide the pool pump in the backyard and had considered several options before finding our HistoricShed.com ad in a historic neighborhood newsletter. They decided that our shed styles were the perfect solution for maintaining the historic look of their property, gaining useful space, and hiding the pool pump.
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| The yard with pool equipment visible |
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| The pool equipment hidden inside the new shed |
The shed incorporated the jerkinhead roof line, rounded rafter tails and arched screen door of the main house. The dropped siding used matched the historic garage screened addition. A screened door, two screened window openings protected by batten shutters, and gable end vents were utilized to ensure that the shed and equipment had adequate ventilation.
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| Arched screen door and exposed rounded rafter tails |
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| Batten awning shutters over screened openings |
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| The shed nestled in the yard |
The owners had this to say about their new shed, "We had a large group of people visit this weekend. People who had never visited assumed the shed was original to the property; people who knew it was new were amazed that it 'looks like it's always been here!' Good job!"
To see how this shed was built, watch the slideshow on the home page of our website at www.HistoricShed.com.