A Contemporary Car Barn

The aluminum-framed doors and windows are in keeping with the car barn’s minimalist aesthetic. Architect David LaPierre added an interior sliding barn door to conceal a small storage area and designed the granite patio to one day showcase a sculpture.

Details matter: the ribs in the roof align vertically with the grooves in the siding, and the frosted-glass doors manually slide open in either direction, to th Details matter: the ribs in the roof align vertically with the grooves in the siding, and the frosted-glass doors manually slide open in either direction, to the right or the left. Details matter: the ribs in the roof align vertically with the grooves in the siding, and the frosted-glass doors manually slide open in either direction, to the right or the left. e right or the left.

White walls, recessed skylights, and simple track lighting with hanging pendants lend the 600-square-foot space a gallery-like feel—an ideal contrast to the black ’57 Corvette with silver coves and red interior that Leone takes for a weekly spin when the weather is nice.

A 1957 Corvette deserves a special home—at the very least one that’s a safe distance from typical garage gear like skateboards and lacrosse sticks. That was the drive behind owner Nick Leone’s idea to build what he called a “tool shed” to house his antique car on his Westport property. He enlisted Cardello Architects, and during a lengthy planning phase, the project morphed from a rustic barn-like structure to a sleek, modern design. “It’s a very clean space, not meant to compete with the car,” says architect David LaPierre, or, for that matter, the adjacent house, which is a traditional Georgian-style colonial.

To get the desired effect, the steel structure is clad in a charcoal-gray board-and-batten composite siding (a nod to the original barn concept), the roof is metal, the floor is polished concrete, and there’s a great deal of glass. “We viewed this structure as a piece of sculpture,” says LaPierre, “a little jewel box.” The garage can hold up to three cars, and Leone plans to add a vintage Porsche or Lamborghini, or perhaps another Corvette. As for its original moniker? That’s gone. There are, in fact, no tools in the barn, and, according to Leone, “My daughter finally said, can we please stop calling it a tool shed? It’s a car museum.”

Project Team 
Architecture: David LaPierre, Cardello Architects
Builder: Walter Mattera, Mattera Construction