THE DEARBORN INN — Autograph Collection
Scope of work
Interior Design
Location
Dearborn, MI
The project aimed to restore and reposition one of America's most storied hotels—a 1931 National Register of Historic Places landmark originally commissioned by Henry Ford and designed by Albert Kahn—as a contemporary luxury destination under Marriott Bonvoy's Autograph Collection. The 135-key Georgian-style property, set across 23 landscaped acres in Dearborn, Michigan, had welcomed generations of visionaries, from Walt Disney to Eleanor Roosevelt, before closing for a comprehensive two-year renovation. The challenge was clear: honor a century of history without being imprisoned by it.
Located on the grounds of the original Ford Motor Company campus, the Dearborn Inn sits at the intersection of American industrial ingenuity and natural beauty. Surrounded by manicured lawns, mature trees, and the quiet dignity of the Michigan landscape, the property occupies a world apart from the city that surrounds it—a retreat that has always felt both important and intimate.
The five Colonial Homes on the property grounds offer a distinctly different way to stay. Historically themed residences—each evoking a different chapter of American architecture—provide the intimacy and character of a private house with the full service of a luxury hotel. Nestled among the lawns and mature trees, they extend the inn's narrative of American heritage into something entirely immersive: accommodation as lived history.
A Century, Inhabited. The Dearborn Inn is not a museum. It is a living place, where the past is not displayed but encountered—in the marble underfoot, the fireplace beside you, the objects you pause to examine, the stories that surface unbidden over dinner. History here is not a backdrop. It is the reason you came.
