Monday answer
Pretty quick today, and gold stars on the forehead to John and Tom.
The building in the question is a GARAGE from the French �garer�--to shelter. Rumor generated from the �Garage� Book by Kira Obolensky (which I like a lot) mentions that businessman HENRY FORD in building his Quadricycle couldn�t get the thing out the door from his neighbor�s coal shed. He knocked out a brick wall and made the first garage door, and by extension the first garage.
To be sure there were carriage houses and stables before, but separate shelter for an automobile was both new and necessary early on. It made a house look bigger and it gave prestige to the owner even when the automobile wasn�t seen. Besides, the ammonia from the horses had a tendency to corrode metal on the car. It was pointed out that the fumes from bulk gas, kerosene, and oil (not many gas stations) didn�t seem to be of concern however when it came to the well being of the horses.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT hated garages though. He thought that car ports were perfectly acceptable for the modern finishes for cars of the 1930�s. He did build and plan garages, but he didn�t like them. But then again, he built guest swimming pools when he hated guests. So the owner sometimes won that small victory.
Today of course the garage is often used for things other than cars. They are apartments, offices, manufacturing facilities, galleries, shops, and tens of more uses without thinking of a car barn. Walt Disney started in a garage, so did Apple computer, and Reader�s Digest. I personally considered my garage before considering most aspects of the house. If I had my druthers I�d build a new garage in a second even before residing or reroofing my house.
Anyone out there who wants to tell tales of garage fantasies throw em in.