Preservation Magazine, Spring 2023

The Scoop on a Splashy Swimming Pool Outside Detroit

When Edsel and Eleanor Ford needed an architect to design their estate in Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, they turned to Albert Kahn, who had designed multiple Ford Motor Company buildings. They also hired landscape architect Jens Jensen, and the two created a haven for the Fords and their four children.

The dramatic swimming pool serves as a highlight of the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, now a National Historic Landmark that is open for public tours. Below, we’ve gathered facts and figures about the pool’s restoration, completed in July of 2022.

Graphic for By the Numbers--Ford Pool

photo by: Pool photo: John F. Martin Photography

Meghan Drueding

Meghan Drueding is the executive editor of Preservation magazine. She has a weakness for Midcentury Modernism, walkable cities, and coffee-table books about architecture and design.

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