It’s wheels up again for one of America’s first airport hotels. Originally commissioned in 1931 by Henry Ford, the Dearborn Inn in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, reopened its doors as a member of Marriott Bonvoy’s Autograph Collection on March 19, 2025, following a two-year renovation and restoration.
The Dearborn Inn was built across the street from what was once the Ford Airport and designed by Albert Kahn, an architect known for many buildings around Detroit, including Ford’s Highland Park Plant, Ford Rouge Factory, the Fisher Building, and Belle Isle Aquarium. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982, the Georgian-style property was inspired by the New England inns that the Fords frequented. Through the years, the hotel hosted notables who visited Motor City to collaborate with Ford: Walt Disney, Orville Wright, Norman Rockwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more.
Now, the 135-room hotel has been carefully restored by Ford’s real estate developer and interior design company, Ford Land, along with Ford Motor Company’s archival teams in collaboration with the Ford family. Design partners included AvroKO, Dash Design, Kraemer Design Group, and restoration architect Quinn Evans.
“Since 1931, the Dearborn Inn has been a significant piece of Dearborn’s history, and an important place for my family and the Ford community. I could not be happier that the Inn is reopening in service of Ford employees, and our broader community,” said Bill Ford, executive chair of Ford Motor Company. “But even more important than its past, the Dearborn Inn is part of Ford’s broader commitment to building for the future. I am thrilled to include the Dearborn Inn on the growing list of buildings across Ford and the community that we are restoring, which will be critical to our long-term success.”
Per the Ford family’s request, the property’s most storied elements were preserved, such as the lobby’s checkerboard Italian marble flooring, selected by Ford himself, and the original green marble fireplace. Artifacts from the Ford Archives are also displayed throughout the hotel, like a scrapbook with letters from guests who once honeymooned there and vintage Dearborn Inn menus—there’s even one signed by Walt Disney.
The lobby features the hotel’s original checkerboard Italian marble flooring, which Ford selected.
Photo by Isaac Maiselman Photography
The new design celebrates Michigan’s artisan and maker history. The lobby features a mix of Michigan-made designs, including Knoll’s Warren Platner and Eames chairs, and hallways are lined with rugs inspired by the famous tapestries of Loja Saarinen, who founded the weaving department at the revolutionary Cranbrook Academy of Art. There are plenty of aviation nods as well; for example, an original phone booth has been transformed into a photobooth whose interior is covered with a photorealistic reproduction wallpaper of the inside of a Ford Tri-Motor airplane.
Rooms have four-poster walnut-framed beds and thoughtful details like artwork from or inspired by the Ford company archives, while bathrooms are clad in Ford Pantone blue tiles. The inn has 19 suites plus the Presidential Suite, with a separate living room, kitchenette, and dining area. This summer, the hotel, which is set on 23 acres, will debut five standalone houses inspired by the homes of literary notables whom Ford admired, like Edgar Allan Poe and Walt Whitman. (The rooms and suites within the homes can be booked separately or as a buyout.)
Clara’s Table restaurant is Dearborn Inn’s tribute to Henry Ford’s wife, Clara, a passionate horticulturist and gracious hostess. Executive chef Elliot Patti’s menu highlights dishes that Clara, a world traveler, might have offered at her home, including Welsh rarebit, a cipollini and pear tatin, and short rib croquettes. Fresh herbs from the on-site garden highlight Clara’s love of gardening.
The hotel’s cocktail bar, Four Vagabonds, draws inspiration from the legendary road trips taken by Ford, Thomas Edison, John Burroughs, and Harvey Firestone (the four vagabonds in question) in the early 1900s. Designed to emulate one of Ford’s studies, with a fireplace and a collection of artifacts and books, the bar offers local beers and craft cocktails named for the Vagabonds’ adventures, such as the Georgia Bound (made with gin, peach, honey, and rosemary) and the Smoky Trail, a mezcal mule. The private dining room, which seats up to 20, features a mural by Detroiter Ryan Herberholz depicting Ford and his three pals.
Dearborn Inn is right by the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and 15 minutes from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Rates start at $350 per night.
