Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Fair Lane was the name of Henry Ford's estate in Dearborn, Michigan. It was named after an area in County Cork where his adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. The extensive 1300 acre (5.3 km²) estate along the River Rouge included a large limestone house, electrical power plant on the dammed river, boathouse, stables and gardens designed by Jens Jensen. The estate was eventually donated to the state, part of it is preserved as a historic landmark, part as a wooded nature area and part was used for the campus of the University of Michigan, Dearborn.
Henry Ford orginally approached Frank Lloyd Wright to design the house; however, Wright eloped to Europe and Marion Mahony Griffin designed the house in an imitation of Wright's Prairie Style . Henry Ford and his wife took a trip to Europe and on returning dismissed this architect and used William H. Van Tine to add English manor house details to the design. The house with 56 rooms and 31,000 square feet (3,000 m²) was considered less grandiose than other great houses of the era. It included an indoor pool and bowling alley. The pool is now covered over and serves as a restaurant.
The powerhouse had its cornerstone laid by Thomas Alva Edison and not only powered the estate by hydropower but also a part of the town of Dearborn. It included the estate's garage and on the upper level a laboratory where Ford worked on engine designs. The powerhouse is also built of limestone in the Prairie Style.
Several gardens, lawns and flower beds surrounded the house. The largest, the "Path of the Setting Sun" is aligned so that the setting sun of the summer solstice shows through a gap in the trees at the end of the meadow.
The boathouse allowed Henry Ford to travel on the Rouge River in his electric boat. The staff's houses and pony barn are used by the university, one of which contains a children's day care center.
Some 72 acres (290,000 m²) of the original estate are managed as a National Historic Landmark.
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