Albert Kahn was an American industrial architect who designed industrial plant complexes such as the Ford River Rouge automobile complex. He designed the construction of Detroit skyscrapers and office buildings as well as mansions in the city suburbs. He led an organization of hundreds of architect associates and in 1937, designed 19% of all architect-designed industrial factories in the United States. Under a unique contract in 1929, Kahn established a design and training office in Moscow, sending twenty-five staff there to train Soviet architects and engineers, and to design hundreds of industrial buildings under their first five-year plan. They trained more than 4,000 architects and engineers using Kahn's concepts. In 1943, the Franklin Institute posthumously awarded Kahn the Frank P. Brown Medal.
The Highland Park Ford Plant is a former Ford Motor Company factory located at 91 Manchester Street in Highland Park, Michigan. It was the second American production facility for the Model T automobile and the first factory in history to assemble cars on a moving assembly line. It became a National Historic Landmark in 1978.
Fair Lane was the estate of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford and his wife, Clara Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan, in the United States. It was named after an area in Cork in Ireland where Ford's adoptive grandfather, Patrick Ahern, was born. The 1,300-acre (530 ha) estate along the River Rouge included a large limestone house, an electrical power plant on the dammed river, a greenhouse, a boathouse, riding stables, a children's playhouse, a treehouse, and extensive landmark gardens designed by Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen.
Fisher Body was an automobile coachbuilder founded by the Fisher brothers in 1908 in Detroit, Michigan.
The Ford River Rouge complex is a Ford Motor Company automobile factory complex located in Dearborn, Michigan, along the River Rouge, upstream from its confluence with the Detroit River at Zug Island. Construction began in 1917, and when it was completed in 1928, it was the largest integrated factory in the world, surpassing Buick City, built in 1904.
New Center is a commercial and residential district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles (5 km) north of Downtown. The area is centered just west of the intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Boulevard, and is bounded by, and includes the Virginia Park Historic District on the north, the Edsel Ford Freeway (I-94) on the south, John R Street on the east and the Lodge Freeway on the west. New Center, and the surrounding areas north of I-94, are sometimes seen as coterminous with the North End, while in fact separate districts.
Ford Motor Company operates several proving grounds worldwide, for development and validation testing of new vehicles.
The Packard Proving Grounds, was a proving ground established in Shelby Charter Township, Michigan in 1927 by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Joseph Nathaniel French, Sr. was an architect with Albert Kahn Associates from 1914 to 1967. He was the chief architect for the Fisher Building in Detroit, Michigan.
Ford Airport in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, was one of the first modern airports in the world. It operated from 1924 to 1947. The site is now part of Ford Motor Company's Dearborn Proving Ground. The airport was about 360 acres (150 ha) in size.
The Ford Nuclear Reactor was a facility at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor dedicated to investigating the peaceful uses of nuclear power. It was a part of the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Project, a living memorial created to honor the casualties of World War II. The reactor operated from September 1957 until July 3, 2003. During its operation, the FNR was used to study medicine, cellular biology, chemistry, physics, mineralogy, archeology, anthropology, and nuclear science.
The Argonaut Building, renamed in 2009 the A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education, is a large office building located at 485 West Milwaukee Avenue in the New Center area of Detroit, Michigan, across the street from Cadillac Place GM's former corporate headquarter office. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.
The New Amsterdam Historic District is a historic district located in Detroit, Michigan. Buildings in this district are on or near three sequential east-west streets on the two blocks between Woodward Avenue and Second Avenue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
The Dearborn Inn, A Marriott Hotel is a historic hotel in the suburban city of Dearborn, Michigan in Metro Detroit. It opened in 1931 and closed in February 2023 for renovations. It was conceived by Henry Ford, who saw a need for food and accommodations for visitors flying into the nearby Ford Airport, making it one of the first airport hotels. It is located at 20301 Oakwood Boulevard near The Henry Ford and the world headquarters building of Ford Motor Company. Albert Kahn designed the Dearborn Inn in the Georgian architectural style. The Dearborn Inn is owned by Ford Motor Land Development Corporation and managed by Marriott International.
The Detroit Financial District is a United States historic district in downtown Detroit, Michigan. The district was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 2009, and was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service's weekly list of December 24, 2009.
Phoenix Mill was part of Henry Ford's Village industries project and ran from 1922 to 1948 in Plymouth, Michigan. Generator cutouts, voltage regulators, gauges and light switches for Ford vehicles were produced at the plant.
Henry Ford Academy is a charter school in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was the first such school to be developed jointly by a global corporation, public education, and a major nonprofit cultural institution. The school is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency and The Henry Ford Museum and admits high school students. It is located on the campus of the Henry Ford museum. Enrollment is taken from a lottery in the area and totaled 467 in 2010.
Henry Ford's Village Industries were small factories located in rural areas of Michigan. Ford developed his Village Industries in part to provide farm workers a stable source of income during the winter months.
Julius Kahn was an American engineer, industrialist, and manufacturer. He was the inventor of the Kahn system, a reinforced concrete engineering technique for building construction. The Kahn system, which he patented in 1903, was used worldwide for housing, factories, offices and industrial buildings. He formed his own company, Trussed Concrete Steel Company, as a manufacturing source for his inventions. He also founded United Steel Company and was chairman of Truscon Laboratories.
The Ford Mack Avenue Plant, a rented wagon manufacturing shop in Detroit, Michigan, was the first facility used by the Ford Motor Company to assemble automobiles. Henry Ford began to occupy it in April 1903 in preparation for the company's incorporation, which occurred on June 16, 1903. Production of the original Ford Model A began that same month after the incorporation. Soon after, the building was expanded and a second story was added to increase production. The Model A was followed by the Model AC, which was a Model A with the larger Ford Model C engine. Most of the major car components were manufactured by outside companies, including the "running gear", which was supplied by the Dodge Brothers Company. A total of 1,708 cars were assembled at the Mack Avenue Plant. The company occupied the building until October 1904, when its manufacturing operations were moved to the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, where the Ford Model T would later be built.
Ford Engineering Laboratory, main entrance (designed by Albert Kahn, 1920s)
Ford Engineering Laboratory, southern corner (designed by Albert Kahn, 1920s)
Ford Engineering Laboratory—detail: Figure of Electricity
Powerhouse of the Ford Engineering Laboratory (FEL), designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1930
