The major components of Cranbrook were designed and built during the years between 1926 and 1943. Cranbrook had its beginnings in 1904, when George Gough Booth, publisher
of the Detroit News, and his wife, Ellen Warren Scripps Booth, bought a large farm in the rolling countryside of Bloomfield Hills and named it after the English village of Cranbrook, the Booth family ancestral home. Taking up residence in 1907, the Booths gradually transformed their farm estate into a remarkable cultural and educational complex consisting of their home, Cranbrook House; the Meeting House, which was expanded into the elementary Brookside School; Christ Church, Cranbrook; Cranbrook School for boys; Cranbrook Academy of Art; Kingswood School for girls; and Cranbrook Institute of Science.
A superb integration of architectural and landscape design elements, the Cranbrook complex represents a unique masterpiece in the history of American architecture. It embodies the belief shared by its founder, George G. Booth, and its principal architect, Eliel Saarinen, that art should permeate every aspect of life.
From "National Historic Landmarks in Michigan". Today the Cranbrook Community functions largely as its founders intended. Cranbrook Schools is a nationally
recognized, independent day and boarding school. Students from pre-kindergarten through grade twelve are enrolled in a rigorous college preparatory program. The 500 students experience the richness of our architecture daily. They walk paths bordered by trees and brooks and experience fine works of art in every academic building.
Cranbrook School alumni include writers Tom McGuane and Ward Just, Pentagon analyst Daniel Ellsberg, poet and author Brad Leithauser, AIDS activist Mary Davis Fisher, reproductive rights attorney Katharine Kolbert, Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, journalist Michael Kinsley, and author Edmund White. Alan Simpson, ex-senator from Wyoming, Mitt Romney, Gov. of Massachusetts, and Stuart Bloomberg and Bob Woodruff of ABC are also Cranbrook graduates.
With its Academy of Art and Art Museum, Cranbrook is recognized internationally as a center for art, education, science and culture. Cranbrook's 315-acre campus is a National Historic Landmark, an architectural and horticultural treasure. Endowment: $182,000,000.
From "Cranbrook Art". Today Cranbrook is
no longer just for the elite.
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