The Dearborn Inn has been given new life. The 94-year-old property, which was originally built by Henry Ford and designed by Albert Kahn across from what was once the Ford Airport, is again welcoming guests after undergoing 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 facility had been closed for two years during renovations.
So, what does an Autograph location mean? For starters, these specifically designated hotels must evoke an upscale and luxurious appeal. “They have to be wrapped around a brand that’s experiential and that ties back to the building’s core elements,” notes McGowan, of Marriot’s Global Design Division. One of those core elements 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, and refurbish (the floor). It needed to be saved,” says McGowan, who’s based at Marriott’s Bethesda, Md., headquarters.
Collaborators on the renovation included Ford Motor Co.; the 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.
Each played a role in how the 135-room inn pays homage to its past through original design elements, like a photo booth (an original phone booth that now looks like a Ford Tri-Motor airplane) in which you can take a vintage-style photo.
Furniture buffs appreciate the 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’s tapestry patterns. (She was the founder of the weaving department at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.)
The warm, contemporary guest rooms feature four-poster walnut beds, Eames chairs, and artwork from or inspired by the Ford Motor Co. archives. A sketchbook for guests is an idea borrowed from Henry Ford and his friends, who would write down ideas on the backs 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 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 inn’s restaurant, Clara’s Table, is named after Ford’s wife, who was a gardening enthusiast. It’s wrapped in sumptuous green draperies and grass-green painted millwork — a “faithful renovation of the space,” McGowan shares, and a nod to Clara Ford’s green thumb.
“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,” Bradley says. “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, sporting 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 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.”
More information: This summer, five stand-alone homes with distinctive guest suites themed around notable former guests, such as Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman, will open, as will additional event spaces. Visit
marriott.com/dtwdk or call 313-271-2700.
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