The Dearborn Inn, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, has a new life. The 94-year-old property that was originally built by Henry Ford and designed by Albert Kahn across from what was once the Ford Airport, now welcomes guests once again with a gleaming transformation.
“It was a Marriott hotel and now it’s part of the Marriott Autograph Collection,” explains Marriott’s William McGowan, who attended the inn’s grand opening in late March after the inn had been closed for two years during renovations.
So, what does an Autograph location mean? For starters, these designated hotels must evoke an upscale and luxurious appeal. “And they have to be wrapped around a brand that’s experiential and that ties back to the building’s core elements,” explained McGowan, of Marriott’s Global Design Division, as we did a walk-thru of the hotel at the ribbon-cutting ceremony on March 19. One core element is the stunning marble flooring in the lobby.
“There was discussion about that being replaced as there was a lot of wear and tear. But as we were initially touring it, we said, this is beautiful. Let’s get some folks to polish, repair, refurbish. It needed to be saved,” says McGowan, who’s based at Marriott’s Bethesda, Maryland headquarters.
Overall renovation collaborators include Ford Motor Co., Ford Land Design Team and partners, including design firm AvroKO, interior specialist Dash Design, and Detroit architecture firms Kraemer Design Group and Quinn Evans Architects. Branding for the hotel was done by BasedOn, in Detroit.
Each played a role in how the 135-room inn pays homage to its past through original design elements, like a photo booth that dates back to the hotel’s early days. The booth has been updated with wallpaper that will make your photo look like you’re in a Ford Tri-Motor Airplane, and will be printed to look like a vintage-style passport photo.
Furniture buffs will appreciate Michigan-themed designs, including Platner chairs (architect Warren Platner spent 1960–65 working for Eero Saarinen in Michigan) and hallway carpeting inspired by Loja Saarinen tapestry designs. (She was the founder of the weaving department at Cranbrook Academy of Art.)
The warm, contemporary guest rooms feature four-poster walnut beds, Eames chairs, and artwork from or inspired by the company archives. A sketchbook for guests is a spinoff of the notion of how Henry Ford and his friends would write down ideas on the back of napkins. Blankets from Sackcloth + Ashes, which donates a blanket to a homeless shelter for each one purchased, also adorn the rooms. (Guests can buy a blanket in the hotel’s gift shop.)
“The entire design was about thinking of personal experiences so that guests could walk away with a new idea or new memory, that’s the Autograph collection,” says Greg Lattin, assistant vice president at Marriott International.
The restaurant, Clara’s Table, named after Henry Ford’s wife, who was a gardening enthusiast, is wrapped in sumptuous green draperies and grass-green painted millwork — a truly “faithful renovation of the space,” McGowan shares, a nod to her green thumb, design-wise, and other.
“We’ll eventually be growing food and herbs right outside its windows,” says Dearborn Inn General Manager Joleisha Bradley.
Meanwhile, the Four Vagabonds lounge and its rich navy-blue paneling (much of which is the original knotty pine) is named after what visionaries Henry Ford, John Burroughs, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone called themselves when traveling. “They would go on these trips in nature, starting in around 1915,” says Bradley. “They’d talk about ideas.” In the private event/dining area, a huge and colorful mural by Detroit artist Ryan Herberholz depicts the four men sitting by a river discussing those ideas.
One can easily imagine Walt Disney, Orville Wright, Norman Rockwell, and Bette Davis, adorned with fedoras and bias-cut apparel, taking in the checkerboard Italian marble floor and gazing into a fireplace (wrapped in the now-preserved green marble) as they once did.
One can also envision Henry and Clara Ford passing through the lobby of one of the country’s first airport hotels en route to the restaurant for their Sunday dinner.
And what would the inn’s original owner think about the legendary hotel’s transformation? Jim Dobleske, chairman and CEO of Ford Land, believes it would get rave reviews. “I think Henry Ford would say it’s charming, and while it focuses on its history, it also moves us so well into the future.”
Speaking of the future, this summer, five standalone homes with distinctive guest suites themed around notable former guests, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman, will open, as well as additional event space.
Learn more at marriott.com/dtwdk or call 313-271-2700 — and for even more metro Detroit development news, visit hourdetroit.com.
Photos of The Dearborn Inn Renovation by Isaac Maiselman Photography
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