Fair Acres

Bourne was the son of a railroad millionaire. In 1902, he was so impressed by the Packard car that he not only bought the only one for sale in Detroit, but he then went on to purchase a majority share in the company and brought it's headquarters to Detroit to oversee it's vast success as president of the Packard Motor Company. He had employed Albert Kahn to build the Packard factory in Detroit - the world’s first reinforced concrete factory and the model for car factories that followed, including the famous Highland Park plant established by Henry Ford (1863-1947).

It was Albert Kahn who also designed Joy's country home and it's boathouse situated on a rocky promontory on Lake St. Clair where Joy - an enthusiastic yachtsman - moored his yacht. Joy also employed Kahn to design the graceful wrought-iron gates that front the Beverly Road Historic District created by Joy in 1911 - one of the first prestigious residential developments in Grosse Pointe within which 22 houses were built by prominent architects of the day; added to the National Register of Historic Districts in 1995.

The principal design of Fair Acres was the hipped roof and further smaller hipped roofs with dormer windows. The dining room, living room and sun room formed a long continuous run that by means of large windows at regular intervals gave an exceptional view of the lake beyond and boathouse. As with the Packard factory in Detroit, the floors were concrete, but the rest of the house was brick. During prohibition, it was said that on several occasions Joy had to chase both bootleggers and gun-toting federal agents off his land when his boathouse became a favorite landing spot for rum-runners from Canada.

Mrs Joy - the sister of her husband's old friend Senator Truman Handy Newberry (1864-1945) - reigned supreme in society circles from the 1880s until her death in 1958 and up until the last was frequently to be seen driven around in her navy-blue electric car. After the house was demolished their four children subdivided and sold the land.