Ford Is Destroying Its Iconic ‘Glass House’ HQ
The Ford Motor Company is on the move.
Just days after revealing its new company slogan, Ready Set Ford, the automaker has announced plans to relocated the Ford World Headquarters to a new building in Dearborn, Mich., and demolish the historic “Glass House” where it is currently located.
The 12-story Glass House was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and opened in 1956. Its image is often used in company promotions and it has served as the backdrop for major events, including the launch of the F-150 Lighting electric pickup.
“Ford’s headquarters building has the sleek glass-and-steel minimalism that characterized up-to-date architecture in the 1950s, when America was at the wheel of the world and even buildings seemed streamlined for speed,” journalist George Will wrote in 2008.
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“Ford’s building opened in 1956, a peak of American confidence — one year before Sputnik shook Americans’ faith in their technological supremacy and the Edsel shook their faith in the acumen of corporate America grown slothful from complacency.”
Ford in 2016 said it planned to renovate the Glass House and its property, but the project was never fully realized. It instead constructed a new building adjacent to its development center about three miles from the Glass House and the new World Headquarters will open there in November. Dearborn is also transferring the current World Headquarters address, 1 American Road, to the new facility. The Glass House demolition will take 18 months and be complete in 2027 or 2028.
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The sprawling four-story, 2.1-million-square-foot building is more than twice the size of the Glass House inside and will house the executive and R&D teams in one location, which is adjacent to a test track.
Ford will retain ownership of the Glass House property and is in discussions with the city of Dearborn about its future, which could include turning it into a “park-like environment,” according to The Detroit News.
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The news comes after Ford’s recent efforts to buy and renovate the dilapidated Michigan Central Station in Detroit, which is now a multi-use innovation center for multiple companies that will soon include a NoMad hotel.
General Motors is also moving its official headquarters this year from Detroit’s Renaissance Center to a smaller space in the new Hudson’s Detroit building in downtown, while its R&D operations remain focused at its technical center in Warren. The Renaissance Center was originally developed by a partnership led by Ford, but was purchased by GM in 1996. Its future hasn’t been confirmed, but one proposal calls for a redevelopment of the property that would include the demolition of several of its five skyscraper towers.