[3][4] The Ford House is located in a suburban residential area of central Alexandria, on the south side of Crown View Drive near its northwestern end.

It consists of a rectangular 2-story main block with a two-story eastern section that once housed a garage on the ground floor and the master bedroom above.

The Secret Service converted the garage into a command post when Ford became Vice President of the United States in 1973.

[5][6] Between his swearing-in on August 9 and his final morning at Alexandria, the U.S. presidential residence had been on Crown View Drive, and President Ford had been driven every morning and evening, along with his Secret Service escorts and with help from the Alexandria police,[7] to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.

The house is representative of the period in Ford's career when he rose to become one of the nation's most influential Congressmen, and set the stage for his ascent to the Presidency.