Meadow Brook Hall facts for kids
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Meadow Brook Farms
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Estate of Matilda Dodge Wilson
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 Location in Michigan
Location in the United States
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| Location | 350 Estate Drive Rochester Hills, Michigan |
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| Built | 1926–1929 |
| Architect | William E. Kapp Smith, Hinchman & Grylls |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 79001166 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | April 17, 1979 |
| Designated NHL | March 2, 2012 |
Meadow Brook Hall is a huge, beautiful mansion in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It looks like an old English castle, built in the Tudor Revival style. This amazing home was built between 1926 and 1929.
It was the home of Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, Alfred Wilson. Matilda was very wealthy, inheriting money from the Dodge car company. The mansion is enormous, with 110 rooms and covering about 88,000 square feet! It's one of the biggest historic house museums in the United States. In 1957, the Wilsons gave the mansion and its land to the state of Michigan. This gift helped start what is now Oakland University. Meadow Brook Hall became a special National Historic Landmark in 2012.
History of Meadow Brook Hall
The land where Meadow Brook Hall stands first belonged to Matilda's first husband, John F. Dodge. He was a very important person in the car industry. John Dodge bought the property as a fun place for his family to relax. The estate was very large, covering about 1,443 acres. He even added a nine-hole golf course!
Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, Alfred Wilson, built Meadow Brook Hall. They spent about $4 million on it, which was a huge amount of money back then. Matilda lived in the Hall for almost 40 years. The family also had other homes for vacations, like one in Maine and another in Arizona. The Hall was even partly closed for a short time during the Great Depression.
The mansion was designed by William Kapp from the company Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. He made it look like a grand Tudor-style home. The building has beautiful stonework and a fancy plaster ceiling in the dining room. This ceiling was made by a famous artist named Corrado Parducci.
Inside Meadow Brook Hall, you can still see many original artworks and special items. The Wilsons collected paintings by famous artists like Anthony van Dyck and John Constable. They also had beautiful Tiffany glass, strong Stickley furniture, and delicate Meissen porcelain. The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It was then named a National Historic Landmark in 2012.
In 1957, Alfred and Matilda Dodge Wilson gave their 1,500-acre estate to Michigan State University. They also gave $2 million to help create a new college campus. This campus is now known as Oakland University. The Wilsons continued to live in Meadow Brook Hall until Alfred passed away in 1962. Mrs. Wilson lived there until her own death in 1967.
Other buildings on the estate were also designed by William Kapp. These include:
- Knole Cottage (1926): This was a small, six-room playhouse on the estate.
- Sunset Terrace: This was a retirement home for Matilda and Alfred Wilson. In 1963, it became the home for the president of Oakland University.
Concours d'Elegance Car Show
From 1979 to 2010, Meadow Brook Hall hosted a special event called the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance. This event was held every August on the mansion grounds. It was one of the biggest collector car shows in the world!
A Concours d'Elegance is a fancy car show where people display very old or rare cars. It's a bit like a beauty contest for cars. The event at Meadow Brook Hall was a way for car makers to show off their designs. It also helped raise money to keep Meadow Brook Hall beautiful and well-preserved.
In 2010, the organizers announced that the car show would move. It left Meadow Brook Hall and is now held at the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan. The event is now called the Concours d'Elegance of America at St. John's.
See also
- List of castles in the United States
- List of largest houses in the United States
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Oakland County, Michigan
