Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 03/19/1997
NRHP Listing Date 12/17/1985
NHL Listing Date 12/17/1985
NRHP Reference Number 85003048
Gerald R. Ford, Jr. and his family lived in this typical suburban house in the city of Alexandria from 1955 until August 19, 1974, ten days after Ford took the oath of office as President of the United States. During this period, Ford represented the Fifth District of Michigan as a Republican in the House of Representatives, where he eventually served as House Minority Leader. Ford was elevated to the office of Vice President by President Richard Nixon following the resignation from that office of Spiro Agnew. Though the Fords maintained a Michigan residence, the Alexandria house was their primary home. The President Gerald R. Ford, Jr. House was designed for the future president by Viktors Purins of Grand Rapids, Ford’s home city. Some of the first photographs of Ford as president, calmly talking with reporters in front of his Alexandria residence, gave the nation a needed reassuring image in the wake of the Watergate scandal. The Fords sold the house upon leaving the White House. The President wrote its new owner: “Betty, the children, and I had many wonderful years in that home.”
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: December 5, 2022
