The Motor House

The Motor House is a former industrial building in North Yorkshire, gradually being brought back to life as a place for making, learning, and the arts. It is a place shaped by use rather than polish — somewhere people can gather, work with their hands, and spend time together making things. The building and its setting are central to this idea: a site with its own history, now offering space for new forms of shared cultural life to grow.

The spirit of The Motor House is closely tied to the Arts & Crafts tradition and to ways of working that value shared effort over individual credit. Making here is about more than objects. It is a way of slowing down, paying attention, and building trust through doing. Projects tend to unfold gently, through conversation, skill-sharing, and working side by side. Artists, designers, neighbours, and people from many walks of life come together, each bringing something of themselves to the work.

The Motor House is being cared for and developed through The Motor House Arts CIC, to ensure it remains open, generous, and rooted in its community. At heart, it is guided by a simple belief: that culture is something we grow together over time, and that places like this matter because they give people the space to make, to learn, and to belong.

Image: Clarissa Berning