Cranbrook Educational Community facts for kids
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Cranbrook
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| Location | 39221 Woodward Avenue Bloomfield Hills, Michigan |
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| Built | 1926–99 |
| Architect | Eliel Saarinen |
| Architectural style | 20th Century American |
| NRHP reference No. | 73000954 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | March 7, 1973 |
| Designated NHLD | June 29, 1989 |
The Cranbrook Educational Community is a really cool place in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It has schools, museums, and beautiful gardens. This special landmark was started in the early 1900s. A newspaper owner named George Gough Booth created it.
Cranbrook includes several amazing spots. These are Cranbrook Schools, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cranbrook Art Museum, Cranbrook Institute of Science, and Cranbrook House and Gardens. The founders also built Christ Church Cranbrook nearby. It was meant to be a central part of the community. However, the church is now a separate organization.
The huge campus is about 319 acres (129 hectares) big. It started as a 174-acre (70-hectare) farm bought in 1904. The name "Cranbrook" comes from Cranbrook, England. This was the birthplace of George Booth's father.
Cranbrook is famous for its amazing buildings. They are built in the Arts and Crafts and Art Deco styles. Eliel Saarinen was the main architect for many buildings. Albert Kahn designed the Booth family mansion. Famous sculptors like Carl Milles and Marshall Fredericks also worked and lived at Cranbrook for many years.
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Cranbrook Schools: Learning and Growing
Cranbrook Schools offer education for all ages. They include a school for younger kids, a middle school, and a high school. The high school is for both boys and girls. Students can attend during the day or live there.
In 1922, the Bloomfield Hills School opened first. George Booth started it as a local school for children in the area. This school later became the Brookside Lower School. After that, Booth wanted to build a school just for boys. It would be a college-prep school. Boys from Detroit and other places would come to live and learn there.
Booth wanted the boys' school to look like the best British boarding schools. He hired Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen to design the campus. The first buildings for Cranbrook School for Boys were finished in 1928.
Over time, the Cranbrook School for Boys campus grew. New buildings like Stevens Hall and Page Hall were added. These were mainly places for students to live. The school also built gyms and a science center.
George Booth's wife, Ellen Scripps Booth, had a great idea too. She knew young women also needed a place to learn. She convinced her husband to build a school for girls. Ellen Scripps Booth oversaw this project herself. She named it the Kingswood School Cranbrook.
Unlike her husband, Ellen encouraged Eliel Saarinen to create a totally unique design. Kingswood School Cranbrook was all in one building. It had everything students needed. This included dorms, a dining hall, classrooms, and even a bowling alley! At first, Kingswood was seen as a "finishing school." But its education became much more academic over time.
In 1986, the boys' school and the girls' school joined together. They became the Cranbrook Kingswood Upper School.
Cranbrook Academy of Art: A Creative Hub
The Cranbrook Academy of Art is a special school for grown-ups. It focuses on architecture, art, and design. George and Ellen Scripps Booth founded it in 1932. In 1984, The New York Times newspaper said Cranbrook had a huge impact. It helped shape modern American design.
Eliel Saarinen designed the buildings and was the first head of the school. He mixed ideas from different art styles. The school is known for its unique way of teaching. It's like an apprenticeship. A small group of students (about 10 to 16 per class) studies with one artist-in-residence. There are no regular classes. Students learn on their own, guided by their artist-teacher.
What You Can Study
The Academy offers two main degrees. These are the Master of Fine Arts and the Master of Architecture. The architecture degree is for students who already have a first architecture degree.
Cranbrook Art Academy has 11 different departments. These include 2D Design, 3D Design, Architecture, Ceramics, and Photography. A new department, 4D Design, started in 2019.
Cranbrook Art Museum: See Amazing Art
The Cranbrook Art Museum is a museum of contemporary art. It has a permanent collection of artworks. You can see pieces by famous artists like Charles and Ray Eames and Andy Warhol. The museum building was finished in 1942. It was designed by Eliel Saarinen. It shares a building with the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
The museum also offers tours of Saarinen House. This was the home of Eliel Saarinen and his family. It has been carefully restored to look as it did when they lived there. The museum is officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums.
Sculptor Carl Milles created many works for Cranbrook. These include the Mermaids & Tritons Fountain (1930) and Jonah and the Whale Fountain (1932).
In 2009, the museum closed for a big update. It reopened in November 2011. The project fixed parts of the original building. It also added a new wing for collections and classrooms. This new area is 20,000 square feet (1,858 square meters). It allows visitors to see the museum's entire collection.
Cranbrook Institute of Science: Explore Science!
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The Cranbrook Institute of Science has a permanent collection of scientific items. It also has new temporary exhibits each year. You can visit its planetarium to learn about space. On certain nights, you can even look through a powerful telescope!
Outside the museum, there's a life-sized statue of a Stegosaurus dinosaur. It's a popular spot for photos!
Cranbrook House and Gardens: A Historic Home
Cranbrook House and Gardens are at the heart of the Cranbrook campus. The house was built in 1908. It's in the English Arts and Crafts style. Albert Kahn designed it for the founders, George and Ellen Booth.
You can take guided tours of ten rooms on the first floor. These rooms have beautiful tapestries, carved woodworking, and old English furniture. The upper floors are used as offices for Cranbrook today.
George Booth himself designed the 40-acre (16-hectare) gardens. They include many different types of gardens. There's a sunken garden, a Japanese garden, and a wildflower garden. You can also see sculptures, fountains, and a lake.
The famous musician Leonard Bernstein once stayed at Cranbrook House. He worked on parts of his Symphony No. 2 there in 1946.
The house and gardens are open to the public from May through October.
St. Dunstan's Playhouse: Theater Fun
St. Dunstan's Playhouse is a theater located on the Cranbrook grounds. It's near Cranbrook House. This theater has 206 seats. It is home to the St. Dunstan's Theatre Guild of Cranbrook. Henry Scripps Booth, the son of Cranbrook's founders, started the guild in 1932.
In the summer, the theater group performs outdoors. They use the Greek Theatre next to Cranbrook House. This outdoor theater was restored in the early 1990s.
A National Historic Landmark
Fourteen buildings at Cranbrook are very important. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 1989, they were named a National Historic Landmark. They are called "one of the most important groups of educational and architectural structures in America."
The important buildings include:
- Brookside School Cranbrook
- Christ Church, Cranbrook
- Cranbrook Academy of Art
- Cranbrook House & Gardens
- Cranbrook Institute of Science
- Cranbrook School
- Kingswood School Cranbrook
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