In June, my friends Leanne, Sheri and I traveled to Michigan for a long weekend. We visited Frankenmuth and stayed in Ann Arbor for a few days (read all about what to do in Ann Arbor here). However, the main focus of our trip was to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house. While we were in Bloomfield Hills, the location of the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house, we also visited the Cranbrook Center.
Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house
The Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house was owned by Melvyn and Sara Stein Smith, and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. These two teachers always dreamed of owning a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and were able to make it possible with their small salaries with just a little help from friends and family.
Sarah and Melvyn Smith shared a love of architecture. In fact, he vowed when they were engaged that he would one day own a Frank Lloyd Wright house. During their chance meeting with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taelison in 1941 they commissioned a custom home. Wright was supposedly so captivated by their enthusiasm that he agreed to design their home for just $9000. However, they had to find a site that would allow total integration of architecture and nature, the mainstays for Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs. It took many years for it to happen, but in 1949 the house was built in the Usonian style.
Frank Lloyd Wright was already a well established and popular architect when he was given a challenge by journalist Herbert Jacobs. Jacobs said that he could not design a home for less than $5000. And this is when the Usonian style began- with the goal of building quality houses for American middle class. Wright built more than a hundred of these houses- each taking the name of the original owner.
Building the FLW Smith house
After meeting Frank Lloyd Wright, the Smiths wrote him in in 1946 letting him know that they had found an ideal 3 acres near the Cranbrook Complex in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Wright replied with plans for the house in 1947. That is when the work for the 1800 square-foot house began. Many of the people who worked on the house did so for free or for reduced wages just because they were so excited to be working on a Frank Lloyd Wright design. Someone else donated all the glass for the home for just $500.
Thomas Church, a famous landscape designer, agreed to provide plans for the landscaping for free. In 1950 the house was completed and the Smiths moved in with their son Robert.
Design elements of the FLW Smith house
The house showcases Frank Lloyd Wrights use of earthy elements. This includes red cypress wood, exposed brick walls, built in shelving and cabinetry, and a Japanese aesthetic influence. Visitors to the house are welcome to walk around and visit all the rooms. Usonian design elements included flat roofs with generous overhangs. The homes had carports that were cantilevered. Built-in furniture and shelving adorned the houses. Tall windows in the houses bring the outside in. The concrete floors are wired for heating. Skylights dot the ceilings, and there is a sense of flow from one room to another.
Frank Lloyd Wright homes are known for having narrow hallways, thus designed to force people into the living spaces. The bedrooms are also very small, encouraging people to spend as much time as possible in the larger rooms with their friends and family. The Smiths eventually turned one of the 3 bedrooms in the back of the house into a TV room.
The kitchen in the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house is also very small. But the adjoining dining room, with Frank Lloyd Wright designed table and chairs, is surrounded by window and makes up for small space.
My favorite rooms were the reading room, with built in bookshelves, and the sun room with its carved wooden screens. I loved the house so much- I could definitely live here!
Visiting the FLW Smith house
Upon completion of the house, the Smiths welcomed visitors, friends and strangers, into their home to see their masterpiece. They showcased their collected artwork and many people donated art and much of the furniture, most designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, to the house. Visitors today can see the house exactly as it was when the Smiths lived here- down to the gift shop mementos, coffee table books and other collective arts that they amassed during their lives.
Frank Lloyd Wright visited the house himself on three occasions. A photo of him with the Smiths adorns a table in the family room, seen below. Melyvn Smith was reportedly so nervous for him to see the house the first time, afraid that Wright would not give him the coveted seal of approval- a signed brick colored tile- that when he did receive it he dropped it and it cracked. It can be seen near the front entrance. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The house was donated to the Cranbrook educational community in 2017. Today visitors can visit the house, booking a tour in advance, by visiting the website. Tours are given Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at 1 PM. There is an additional tour on Saturday at 11 AM. Tours cost $35 per adult, or $20 for students. The address for the Frank Lloyd Wright House Smith House is 5045 Ponvalley Road, Bloomfield Township, Michigan 48304. Visitors must put on shoe coverings, and, during COVID, wear a mask inside.
Cranbrook Center
After visiting the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house, we made the short 10 minute drive to Cranbrook Center. The Cranbrook Center is a complex of 319 acres and 14 buildings.
In 1904, George Booth, a Detroit newspaper publisher and philanthropist, and his wife Ellen purchased 175 acres in Bloomfield Hills, 30 miles from Detroit. Over time they transformed their vacation property into one of the nations foremost educational communities, calling it Cranbrook. Booth approached Eliel Saarinen, a visiting professor of architectural design at the University of Michigan, to help him turn his vision into life. Booth, with the help of Saarinen, established an Academy of Arts, which offered studio-based experience, pairing students with artist mentors, in 1932. This eventually included a grade school for boys and girls, grades K-12. Booth also opened the Institute of Science, a natural history and science museum. In 1942 the Cranbrook Art Museum opened. The Cranbrook Center was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Cranbrook Academy of Art & Schools
The Cranbrook Academy of Art is one of the nations leading graduate schools of art, architecture and design. It is home to some of the worlds most renowned artists and was has been named one of the top 15 art schools in the US. Every year only 75 students are invited to study and live on the Saarinen designed campus. We enjoyed walking the beautiful grounds of the schools, which include a K-12 day and boarding school.
Saarinen House
Eliel Saarinen was Cranbrook’s first resident architect, the Art Academy’s first president and the head of the architecture department. At Cranbrook, visitors can visit the Saarinen House, an Art Deco masterpiece. Saarinen designed the home on the campus for himself and his wife in the late 1920s, and he lived there until his death in 1950. Public tours are offered on Friday, Saturday, and Sundays at 3:00pm, and must be reserved in advance through the website. The ticket price for visiting is $20.
Cranbrook Art Museum
The Cranbrook Art Museum has more than 6,000 works of art, many of which are from students from the Cranbrook Academy. The various programs of study which are featured include architecture, ceramics, fiber, paintings, photography, sculpture and more. The Cranbrook Art Museum also have revolving collections, changing seasonally.
The museum, closed Monday and Tuesday, is open on Wednesday & Friday-Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM and on Thursday (when there is FREE admission) from 11 to 8 PM. Price for admission is $10 for the general public, $8 for seniors, $6 for students with ID, and free for children 12 and under.
Cranbrook House and Gardens
Just a short walk from the Art Museum is the Cranbrook house and gardens. The house, owned by George and Ellen Booth and built in 1908, is an English Arts and Craft style home. The 10 first floor rooms can be visited during guided tours.
There are 40 acres of gardens which are free to visit. Things visitors can see include a sunken garden, formal garden, herb garden, wildflower garden, Japanese garden, and more. The grounds also features sculptures, fountains and a lake. The house and gardens are open to the public from May through October.
Thank you for reading my blog post about the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith house and Cranbrook Center, both located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Check out some of my other posts for more travel ideas, and meanwhile I love your comments and suggestions : )
-Catching Katie
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