Cranbrook School

Name of property current (historical)

Cranbrook School

Entry author

Leigh House

Abstract

The Cranbrook School, the first building constructed in the United States by renowned Finnish Architect Eliel Saarinen, was designed to be the American parallel to the Bauhaus Movement as a school of craftwork, art, and design. Designated as a National Historic Landmark for its representation of exquisite Arts and Crafts detailing, the Cranbrook School was founded by Detroit-based newspaper magnates George Gough and Ellen Scripps Booth. Today, Cranbrook School is just one of the six educational entities part of the 319-acre Cranbrook Educational Community, and stands as a paradigm of the Gift of Architecture.

The core focus of this philanthropic assessment is to outline and describe the significance of the Cranbrook School as a philanthropic development that irrevocably impacted the communities of the surrounding Bloomfield Hills and Detroit Metropolitan Area through its representation of idealized beauty and craftsmanship.

Address

39221 Woodward Avenue
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48013

Architect

Eliel Saarinen - Design Architect
Robert F. Swanson - Architect of Record

O.C. Simonds & Peter Osler - Landscape Architects

Tarapata, MacMahon and Paulsen - Gordon Hall of Science Architects

Date (comission)

1904 - The Cranbrook Estate in Bloomfield Hills was Purchased

1916 - The Greek Theater, designed by Michigan local Marcus R. Burrowes, was dedicated for community use, predating the eventual dedication of the Cranbrook estate for community cultural enhancement.

1918 - The Meeting House was built on the Cranbrook Estate for use as a communal religious and activity structure.

1922 - Bloomfield Hills School (now Brookside School) was established

1925 - Cranbrook School was Commissioned

1926 - Construction on Cranbrook School began

Date (completion)

1927 - Cranbrook School was completed

Cranbrook School for Boys opened on September 19, 1927

Program/ function

Historic Function - Community School for (male) children
within the Bloomfield Hills neighborhood, approximately 25 miles outside the center of Detroit, Michigan.

Current programmatic use is as a Pre-K - 12 independent and boarding school for local and regional students.

Contractor

Charles R. Wermuth - General Contractor

Artisans and Crafters:
> Wrought-Iron Work by Oscar Bac, Blacksmith John C. Burnett,
> Sculptural Ornamentation by Geza Maroti
> Courtyard Bronze Sculptures by Paul Manship & Carl Milles

Date (modification, adaptation, renovation)

1931 - Page Hall and Marquis Hall Dormitories Added

1976 - Gordon Hall of Science added

2000 - Renovation and Restoration by Quinn Evans Architects

Style/ distinct features/ cultural reference

The Cranbrook School for Boys is representative of the Arts & Crafts Style with elements of Collegiate Gothic
(Figures 5, 6, & 9), and Art Deco detailing and ornamentation (Figures 6, 10, & 11).

The Cranbrook School provides a highly detailed example of the Arts and Crafts style implemented through public and academic programming, unique for the style, as it was more often implemented within residential architecture. Similar to the British communities from which the American Arts and Crafts movement evolved, the goal of the design implemented at Cranbrook School and its surrounding campus was to unify simplicity, utility, and the democratization of art, (Michigan Architectural Foundation). Arts and Crafts designers sought to improve the standards of living conditions they believed to be adulterated by the mechanized forms of industrialization, advocating for a movement in which the beauty of nature and fine workmanship governed.

The School was the first building constructed in the United States by renowned Finnish Architect Eliel Saarinen, and featured ornamental details by his son, Eero Saarinen (Figures 10-11). What makes the architectural design and ornamentation of Cranbrook School unique is its representation of "inspiring beauty," intended to elevate the spatial experience of the students who interacted with the site, (Pound). The exquisite detailing executed throughout the Cranbrook School campus include highly detailed masonwork throughout the building’s load-bearing brick walls, constructed with Detroit-made brick and interspersed with clinker bricks, clay tile, and Roman brick detailing
(Image 3, 4, 6, 9, & 11). Furthermore, decorative stained glass medallions, cast iron gate arches, ceramic mosaics, art deco light fixtures, and integrated stone carvings were all finely crafted by distinguished American and European craftsmen (Adkisson). Throughout the interior, and delicately integrated along the exterior facades of the schools, the innovative architectural detailing was designed to capture the attention and inspiration of the Cranbrook students.

George Booth, who founded the Detroit Arts and Crafts Society, sought the highest craftmanship in the design of the campus, "encouraging individual growth and excellence by providing a built environment that promoted artistic, cultural, intellectual, and spiritual ideals," (Clark and Belloli).

Gift giver/ funder/ contributor

Newspaper Magnates George Gough and Ellen Scripps Booth,
founders of the Detroit News and the Booth Publishing Company, one of the first and largest newspaper chains in the United States at the turn of the Twentieth Century, (Pitts).

George Booth is also known for founding the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts in 1906, and was an ardent supporter of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Beneficiaries and impact on the community

The Cranbrook School and the sister structures spread throughout the Cranbrook Educational Community provide academic opportunities to children ages 4 - 18 throughout the Detroit Metropolitan Area. The campus, its structures, gardens, walking paths, and museum are all open to the public during listed hours, and provide an enclave of design in architectural and sculptural craftsmanship intended to act as a paradigm of beauty that would, by its very presence, "enrich the quality of life for everyone in the Upper Middle West," (Clark and Belloli).

However, while tuition at Cranbrook Schools starts at $26,000, extending to $40,500 by high school,
grants and scholarships that cover more than 70% of tuition are often not awarded

Cranbrook School: Affordability

Was it part of a network of buildings?

Cranbrook School is part of the 319 acre Cranbrook Educational Community Campus, which consists of several building complexes, including the Brookside School, Kingswood School, Institute of Science, and Academy of Art

The structures of the Cranbrook School was situated around a courtyard:
Hoey Hall along the west; Stevens Hall along the north; Page and Marquis Halls along the east; and the Dining Hall and two faculty houses (originally farm buildings) along the south.

Sustainability (financial, cultural)

Believing that their estate should "serve a larger public purpose, George Booth implemented the Cranbrook Foundation in 1927 to ensure the "care, expansion, and upkeep" of the Cranbrook campus.
The Trust Indenture is overseen by three governing boards:
> The Board of Directors, which manages Cranbrook School and the care of its buildings and grounds.
> The Advisory Board, "comprised of the Bishop of the Diocese of Michigan, an educator of high standing,
and a layman of position in art, law, medicine, or business."
> The Board of Trustees, which was originally directed to have seven members, of which four
"were to be members of the Protestant Episcopal Church."

Size/ scale

The Cranbrook Educational Community is situated upon a 319 Acre Campus

Cranbrook School has a footprint of approximately 90,000 Square Feet

The original scale of the buildings on the Cranbrook campus were to be sympathetic with
the forms of the vernacular farm structures throughout the surrounding community (Pitts).

Was the community involved in the process?

In 1922, the Booths joined with a few local parents to organize a school for neighborhood children at the Meeting House. Known as the Bloomfield Hills School in its early years, the institution was helped considerably by the Booths, who set up a trust to underwrite its educational programs and made additions to the Meeting House as required to accommodate the growing number of pupils (Goldberger).

While the Bloomfield Hills community did not contribute to the implementation and design of the
Cranbrook School and its surrounding grounds, the desire of the benefactors and designers, as well as the conceptualization of Cranbrook, were based on the ideologies of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts ,
of which George Booth was the President, (Coir).

Mediator

Students of the Bloomfield Hills area
Students of the Cranbrook Educational Community
In 2022, Cranbrook awarded over $10 million USD in financial aid to its just under 1,700 students

Cranbrook School: Educational Assistance

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