The herringbone floor inside the Henry Ford Museum was the largest single expanse of teak in the world when it was installed in 1934, according to an article from the time in the Milwaukee Journal.
Each piece of herringbone measured 3 inches wide and 18 inches long. When completed, the Journal reported the floor would span 270,000 square feet—about 6 acres. Ford told the paper in May 1934 there needed to be floor space for all the exhibits yet to come.
In fact, when the floor was finally completed later that year by Cincinnati Floor Company, then owned by the Stoehr family, it measured a whopping 8½ acres. No surprise that it's still the world's largest teak floor today.
Photos courtesy of Stoehr Flooring.
Article updated April 14 to clarify Cincinnati Floor Company's relationship to the Stoehr family, which now operates Stoehr Flooring.
