In Arcadia, a stylish garage showcases a beloved automotive collection.

As a child growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, Mike Lovell was obsessed with cars. Coming from a family of gear heads, he spent many hours in the garage with his father working on and restoring old vehicles. And when other kids would doodle the names of their crushes on the outer edges of their homework, Mike could be found scribbling “69 Camaro SS 396” over and over in his notebooks. “That car was always my dream,” he says.

When he turned 13—years before he even had his driver’s license—the young automotive enthusiast bought his first ride, a 1967 Camaro, which he still owns. He’s since added a few more Chevys to his fleet, including a 1967 Corvette, Bel Airs from 1955 and ’56, a ’69 Chevelle and that fantasy ’69 Camaro in Lemans blue with a black interior, as well as a bevy of dream rides ranging from a 1932 Packard Light Eight to a show-stopping 1965 Shelby Cobra and a 2014 Aston Martin Vanquish.

For years, Mike stored his cars with friends and family, but when he and his wife, Stacy, purchased their home on 2 acres near The Phoenician resort in late 2014, he was finally able to bring his collection together under one roof. “When I got this property, I wanted to build a garage where I could have a machine shop, but it turned into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build my own museum at the base of Camelback Mountain,” he explains.

Mike tapped builder Joe Hendricks and interior designer Raegan Ford to turn his dream into a reality.
From the outside, the 10,000-square-foot structure looks more like a barn, with its raised center aisle design, long covered porch, large garage doors and tan stucco finish that blends with Arcadia’s bucolic landscape. “Mike likes to say, ‘We don’t have horses, but we have horse power,’” Stacy notes with a laugh.

Inside, the aesthetic is sleek and industrial. “It looks like a museum-quality garage, but it doesn’t function that way,” Ford remarks. “It features masculine materials and textures, but it’s livable.”

For years, Mike stored his cars with friends and family, but when he and his wife, Stacy, purchased their home on 2 acres near The Phoenician resort in late 2014, he was finally able to bring his collection together under one roof. “When I got this property, I wanted to build a garage where I could have a machine shop, but it turned into a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build my own museum at the base of Camelback Mountain,” he explains.

Mike tapped builder Joe Hendricks and interior designer Raegan Ford to turn his dream into a reality.

From the outside, the 10,000-square-foot structure looks more like a barn, with its raised center aisle design, long covered porch, large garage doors and tan stucco finish that blends with Arcadia’s bucolic landscape. “Mike likes to say, ‘We don’t have horses, but we have horse power,’” Stacy notes with a laugh.

Inside, the aesthetic is sleek and industrial. “It looks like a museum-quality garage, but it doesn’t function that way,” Ford remarks. “It features masculine materials and textures, but it’s livable.”

The main space is open and airy. Rows of clerestory windows line the center aisle roof, allowing copious natural light to filter in without the worry of direct sunlight damaging the cars’ and motorcycles’ leather or paint. Deep I-beams support the roof structure and a second-story hanging mezzanine. “I didn’t want any posts that would break up the space or that could be hit by cars,” Mike explains. The polished black concrete floors are both contemporary and practical. “I designed everything in here so that any car can be driven at any time, without any effort,” he adds.

Beneath the mezzanine, where Stacy hosts girls’ night card games, is a cozy entertainment and hangout spot, complete with low-profile leather sofas, coffee tables crafted from car parts, and an expansive bar and feature wall that Mike and a friend built from reclaimed wood from an 1800s tobacco barn. “Even though it’s a garage, I didn’t want it to be kitschy,” Ford says. “Mike and Stacy do a lot of entertaining, so they needed a space that functions for both large and small groups and features several different seating vignettes. When selecting furnishings, I made sure that they not only looked good but that they also were comfortable.”

While visitors initially are blown away by Mike’s eclectic groupings of cars—he rotates his collection, displaying about 15 at a time—and 40-plus motorcycles, as well as an assortment of dirt bikes and go-carts, they’re also surprised to learn that the garage is actually considered a home (it’s zoned as a single-family residence), complete with a fully equipped kitchen, bedroom and two bathrooms. Ford points out, “The living spaces are interesting and beautiful, but they don’t compete with
the cars.”

Recently, Mike broke ground on a second garage on his property. This time, he promises that it will be a working garage, where he can get his hands dirty. But for now, he and his family enjoy spending time in their personal museum, watching TV or movies, playing games or, on warm summer nights, throwing open the glass walls and watching their daughter, a nationally ranked skateboarder, grab some air on the concrete skate park that the couple installed next to the garage.

“I’ve built a lot of things in my life, and every time, I’ve thought of something I should have added or done differently,” Mike says. “This is the first thing I’ve finished that I wouldn’t change. It’s exceeded my expectations. It really is a dream come true.”

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