Fair Lane Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Significant dates

Fair Lane
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark District

Fair Lane from the Rouge River side
Location	Dearborn, Michigan
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
Added to NRHP	November 13, 1966
Designated NHLD	November 13, 1966

Fair Lane was the amazing home of Henry Ford, who started the Ford Motor Company. He lived there with his wife, Clara Ford. This special place is in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States.

The estate was named after a place in Cork, Ireland. That's where Henry Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. Fair Lane is huge, covering about 1,300 acres along the River Rouge. It had a big house made of limestone, a power plant, a greenhouse, a boathouse, and even stables for horses. There was also a children's playhouse and a treehouse! The beautiful gardens were designed by a famous landscape architect named Jens Jensen.

Today, you can visit the main house and some of the gardens. They are kept as a historical landscape and a house museum. It's also a National Historic Landmark. Part of the land is used by a university for nature studies.

Designing the Fair Lane Mansion
Exploring the Fair Lane Landscape
Fair Lane as a Museum
Fair Lane's Legacy and Namesakes
Gallery
See also

Designing the Fair Lane Mansion

The famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright helped with the first ideas for the house. But he left for Europe. Then, one of his assistants, Marion Mahony Griffin, took over. She was one of the first female architects in America. She worked on the design in her own way, using the Prairie Style.

However, Henry and Clara Ford went to Europe. When they came back, they decided to make some changes. They hired William H. Van Tine to add details from English manor houses. In 1913, another architect, Joseph Nathaniel French, joined the team. He helped finish the house, which was completed in 1915.

The house is very large, with 56 rooms. It covers about 31,000 square feet. It was considered a grand home for its time. It even had an indoor pool and a bowling alley. The pool area is now used for events and meetings.

Exploring the Fair Lane Landscape

John Burroughs grotto, Henry Ford Estate

The power plant at Fair Lane was very important. Its first stone was laid by the famous inventor Thomas Alva Edison. This building also held the estate's garage. Upstairs, Henry Ford had a laboratory where he worked on engine designs. The power plant is also built from limestone in the Prairie Style. It used hydropower from the river. This power lit up the estate and even parts of Dearborn!

Jens Jensen designed the way visitors arrived at the house. He used a "delayed view" approach. Instead of seeing the house right away, the driveway takes you through thick woodland areas. The road has gentle curves. Large trees are planted on the inside of these curves. This makes the turns feel natural. It also hides the house until the last moment. Suddenly, you come out of the forest. Then, the house appears fully in front of you. Jensen loved the idea of wandering and exploring in his designs.

The landscape around the house has wide meadows and gardens. Natural groups of flowers surround the house. There's a large meadow called the "Path of the Setting Sun." It's lined up so that on the summer solstice, the sun sets perfectly 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 as a Museum

In 1957, the Fair Lane estate was given to the University of Michigan. It became part of their new Dearborn campus. The houses where the staff used to live and a pony barn are now used by the University of Michigan–Dearborn.

The main house, power plant, garage, and 72 acres of land were opened as a museum. There was also a restaurant in the old indoor swimming pool area. However, the university closed Fair Lane to the public in 2010. In 2013, a non-profit group took over caring for the estate. This group also manages the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House by the lake. The Ford family helps financially to keep Fair Lane special.

Fair Lane's Legacy and Namesakes

Henry and Clara Ford had their own private railroad car. It was also named "Fair Lane." This train car was always ready at the Ford train siding in Dearborn.

The "Ford Fairlane" car model was named after this estate. This car was sold in America from 1955 to 1970. It was also sold in Australia from 1959 to 2007.