Ewell Honda

Ewell Honda is a showroom building dating to the late 20th century, constructed of reinforced concrete portal frames with glass and brick infill. The showroom has a single storey and a distinctive fan-shaped floor plan, created by ten radiating portal frames spanning approximately 12 metres. The outer curve of the fan forms the showroom frontage, while the inner curve faces the rear of the site. The uprights of the portal frames are slightly angled inwards, causing the front and rear walls to rake inwards. A mono-pitch roof slopes gently from the front to the rear curve. A basement workshop, originally a car store, lies beneath the showroom and is accessed via a south-facing ground level entrance due to the site’s steep slope.

The curved showroom frontage features raked concrete portal frame uprights, tapering downwards, filled with glazing. Concrete brackets project outwards, supporting a canopy. Above the canopy, glazing continues to form clerestory-like windows, although these are now painted over or blocked out. The main entrance is through glazed double doors in the centre, with single personnel doors on either side; the doors are modern replacements, but retain a simple pattern likely similar to the originals. A modern fascia has been applied to the canopy’s edge, and the underside of the canopy, the brackets, and outer parts of the portal frames have been clad with grey sheet aluminium.

Originally an open-plan space, the interior showroom now incorporates several glass-fronted offices and toilet facilities towards the rear. A false ceiling now obscures the horizontal elements of the portal frames, though the rear uprights and glazing remain visible. The reinforced concrete floor structure of the showroom is visible on the ceiling of the workshop below, which also contains modern office subdivisions.