Ford Model T Plant Gets Makeover

DETROIT, Sept. 27, 2008 - Henry Ford would be proud! For the first time in decades his original plant on Piquette Avenue in Detroit looks just like it did when he opened its doors over 100 years ago. The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant was the assembly site for the first 12,000 Model Ts.

The front facade of the plant has undergone a painstaking and complete summer-long restoration to bring it back to its original look when it opened in 1904. Restoration work was handled by Quinn Evans Architects of Ann Arbor, a firm that specializes in historic preservation. The front facade will be unveiled in a ceremony today as one of the stops in the motorcade celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Model T. The motorcade was organized by Ford Motor Company and MotorCities National Heritage Area.

"We were thrilled to take on this assignment," said Lis Knibbe, AIA, at Quinn Evans. "The Piquette plant is a national and even an international landmark in industrial history. It was the birthplace of the Model T and the incubator for the moving assembly line. It had enormous impact not only on the auto industry but on every industry that followed and on the whole of society."

The restored front facade had been the most deteriorated and altered part of the structure over the years and required extensive masonry and window repair and replacement work. Building contractor Grunwell-Cashero of Detroit individually repaired most of the bricks and completely replaced others that had been destroyed by paint and weather. The biggest challenge of the restoration, the arched office entry, had been replaced by a garage door. Fortunately there were good archival photographs of the original entry that provided a model for its reconstruction. Today, the entry will greet visitors to the building just as it originally greeted Henry Ford and his workers.

"Restoring this plant inside and out has been a labor of love for me and for our entire team of volunteers," said Jerald A. Mitchell, Founder and CEO of the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant. "The restored façade is a huge and exciting step that brings the place back to life. It shows that we truly respect what Mr. Ford did here and ensures that the memories will live on."

The facade restoration was made possible by a $250,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Transportation under their Transportation Enhancement Program. The restored Piquette plant houses a Model T museum and other Ford memorabilia.