Fair Lane facts for kids
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Fair Lane
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Fair Lane from the Rouge River side
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| Location | Dearborn, Michigan |
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| Built | 1913–1915 |
| Architect | Joseph N. French, William Van Tine, Marion Mahony Griffin, Frank Lloyd Wright, Jens Jensen. |
| Architectural style | Baronial, Prairie |
| NRHP reference No. | 66000399 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | November 13, 1966 |
| Designated NHLD | November 13, 1966 |
Fair Lane was the amazing home of Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford. Henry Ford was the person who started the Ford Motor Company. Their estate was in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after a place in Cork, Ireland. This is where Henry Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born.
The estate was huge, covering about 1,300 acres (526 hectares) along the Rouge River. It included a big house made of limestone, a power plant that used the river's water, a greenhouse, a boathouse, and stables for horses. There was even a playhouse for children and a treehouse! The beautiful gardens were designed by a famous landscape architect from Chicago, Jens Jensen.
Today, the house and some of the gardens are open to the public. You can visit them as a historical landscape and house museum. It is also protected as a National Historic Landmark. Other parts of the estate are now a nature study area for a university.
Contents
Designing the House
The first ideas for the house came from a famous architect named Frank Lloyd Wright. But after some changes, one of his assistants, Marion Mahony Griffin, helped finish the design. She was one of the first female architects in America.
Later, Henry and Clara Ford traveled to Europe. When they came back, they wanted to add some English Manor house details to the design. So, they brought in other architects, William H. Van Tine and Joseph Nathaniel French, to complete the house. The house was finished in 1915.
The house is very large, with 56 rooms and about 31,000 square feet (2,880 square meters) of space. It even had an indoor pool and a bowling alley! The pool area is now used for events and meetings.
Amazing Gardens and Power
The estate had its own power plant. The famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison helped lay its first stone. This building also held the estate's garage. Upstairs, Henry Ford had a laboratory where he worked on engine designs.
The power plant used water power from the river. It provided electricity not only for the estate but also for part of the town of Dearborn!
Jens Jensen designed the gardens in a special way. When you arrived, you didn't see the house right away. The driveway led you through thick woodland areas. The curves in the drive were planned to feel natural. Suddenly, you would come out of the forest and see the house fully in front of you. Jensen liked the idea of visitors "wandering" through the landscape.
The estate has wide meadows and gardens. There are many flowers around the house. One large meadow, called the "Path of the Setting Sun," is lined up perfectly. On the summer solstice, the setting sun shines through a gap in the trees at the meadow's end. The boathouse, with its stone cliffs designed by Jensen, let Henry Ford travel on the Rouge River in his electric boat.
Fair Lane Today
In 1957, the estate was given to the University of Michigan. It became part of their new Dearborn campus. The houses where the staff used to live are now used by the University of Michigan–Dearborn.
The main house, power plant, garage, and 72 acres (0.29 square kilometers) of land were run as a museum for many years. A restaurant was even in the old indoor swimming pool area. In 2010, the university closed Fair Lane to the public. But in 2013, a non-profit group took over. They now manage the estate with help from the Ford family.
Fair Lane's Legacy
Henry and Clara Ford had their own private rail car named "Fair Lane." It was kept ready at the Ford train siding in Dearborn.
The Ford Fairlane car model was also named after the Fair Lane estate. This car was sold in America from 1955 to 1970. It was also sold in Australia from 1959 to 2007.
Gallery
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Power house
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North east side
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South side
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Southwest side
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Northwest side
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Power house – garage
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Henry and Clara Ford Statues
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Early Rose Garden
See also
In Spanish: Fair Lane para niños
