Vintage postcard of Detroit, Michigan. Image from amazon.com.
Detroit, day four. We spent a wonderful afternoon at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Cranbrook is a leading center for education, science and art, and we enjoyed a terrific tour of the Saarinen House.
Day Four
Cranbrook Academy of Art
With no plans for the day other than our afternoon tour of the Saarinen House, Chris and I spent a leisurely morning at the hotel. After lunch we started off for Cranbrook. The drive through some of Detroit’s most affluent suburbs to Bloomfield Hills only took a half an hour. We really lucked out, the day before there were periods of rain showers, but this day was one of those perfect summer days, not hot, pleasantly breezy with a blue sky dotted with white clouds.
We arrived around 1:45 and since our Saarinen House tour was not until 3:00, we had time to explore the grounds. I do not know if it is like this all through the year, or because school is not is session, but the campus was so amazingly serene and peaceful.
Sculpture
On the way from the parking lot to the main campus the sculpture the Lynx and her Young (1935) by Jussi Mäntynen (1886 – 1978) guard the steps up the library and museum. Eliel Saarinen purchased them for the Cranbrook Foundation in 1938.
Lynx and her Young (1935) by Jussi Mäntynen. Photo by the authors.
At the top of the stairs, the Orpheus Fountain by Swedish sculptor, Carl Milles’ (1875 – 1955) stands directly in front of the loggia.
Carl Milles – Orpheus Fountain (1938). Photo by the authors.
Installed in 1938, the eight figures were recast from the Orpheus Group Milles created for the forecourt of the concert hall at Hötorget in Stockholm.
And directly south of the loggia steps, stands Carl Milles’ 1935 Europa and the Bull.
Europa and the Bull (1935). Photo by the authors.
Just below Europa and the Bull is the Triton Pool. In it are Milles’, circa 1926, cast bronze figures of Tritons and dolphins ready to escort the bull (Zeus) and Europa across the sea to Crete.
The Triton Pool. Photo by the authors.
At the southern end of the campus there is Sunglitter another Carl Milles piece. This was the first of the 71 Milles sculptures that were collected for Cranbrook by its founder George Booth.
Sunglitter, 1918. Recast in 2002. Photo by the authors.
At the very southern end of the campus, on top of two brick columns are a pair of Sitting Boars, cast in 1929 by Carl Milles. The two boars watch over the Nichols Gate, designed by Eliel Saarinen and Walter Nichols. This gate is named in honor of Nichols who served as Cranbrook’s blacksmith for 35 years.
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- Sitting or Wild Boar (1929) Carl Milles. Photo by the authors.
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- The opposite side Sitting Boar. Photo by the authors.
Nichols Gate at the southern end of the campus. Photo by the authors.
After exploring the campus it was getting close to 3:00 PM the time for the Saarinen House tour. The starting point for the tour was under the loggia between the library and the museum.
The Cranbrook Academy of Art campus, looking north towards the library and museum. Photo by the authors.
Library & Museum
The main entrance to Cranbrook Art Academy Museum and Library. Photo by the authors.
Construction of the library and the museum began in May, 1940. Design by Eliel Saarinen in buff yellow brick and Mankato limestone his design was partially inspired by the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris from the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. The fair that ushered in the design trends that would dominate in the post World War Two decades. The building’s design anticipates the International Style of architecture that came to prominence in the 1950s.
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
Completed in 1942, the museum and library were originally intended to be the first section of quadrangle, but the proposed buildings did not come to fruition.
On the east and west sides of the hard limestone paved loggia are the entrances to the museum and library.
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- Cranbrook Art Academy museum entrance. Photo by the authors.
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- The Library entrance, with Carl Milles St. Paul on a Horse (1926-1927) to the left of the doors.
Set back in the limestone are the copper doors leading to both the library and the museum. At night the incised cement loggia ceiling is indirectly lit from a large limestone fixture in the middle of the loggia.
The cement ceiling and limestone lighting fixture. Photo by the authors.
Unfortunately, after our tour there was not enough time to enjoy the library or the museum. Which gives us an excuse to make a return visit in the future.
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- Library interior (1943), photo by Hedrich-Blessing from the December, 1943 Pencil Points.
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- The museum in 1943. Photo by Hedrich-Blessing from the December, 1943 issue of Pencil Points.
Southern facade of the Library and Loggia. Photo by the authors.
Saarinen House
Saarinen House plaque next to the front door. Photo by the authors.
The walk from the museum and library to the Saarinen House was short and it took us back to the southern end of the campus, where we went exploring earlier.
If you have not seen photos of the Saarinen house interior the exterior gives no hint of the the amazing Art Deco design inside. From the outside it resembles brick row houses found in England.
Ivy covered exterior of the Saarinen House. Photo by the authors.
Tours are given seasonally once a day from 3:00 PM – 4:15 PM on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from May – November. Reservations must be made in advance. For more tour information click here.
The Saarinen House is the “jewel of Cranbrook’s architectual treasures”. Designed in the late 1920s, from 1930 through 1950 it served as the home as studio of Finnish-American designer Eliel Saarinen (1873 – 1950), and his wife Loja Saarinen (1879 – 1968). Eliel was the first head of the academy’s Architectural Department and Loja the first head of the Weaving Department. The restored interior features Eliel’s furniture and Loja textiles as well as son Eero’s early furniture designs and daughter’s Pipsan’s decorative designs. After Eliel’s death Loja moved out in 1951 and subsequent Cranbrook Academy of Arts presidents moved in and made many changes to the residence. In 1977, during the presidency of Roy Slade plans for a Saarinen House restoration began. With the full restoration undertaken between 1988 to 1994 under the direction of Art Museum Curator Gregory Wittkopp returning the house to its mid-1930s appearance.
Living Room
First on the tour is the living room. A wonderful, long Loja Saarinen rug (mimicking the house’s exterior brickwork), running almost the length of the room directs your eye to the fireplace. Eliel Saarinen originally designed the fireplace and bronze, peacock andirons for the The Architect and the Industrial Arts – An Exhibition of Contemporary Design show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1929. The Sterling Bronze Co. of New York, which collaborated with the best architects of the day created the peacock andirons. Featured in a dinning room during the exhibition, Saarinen it installed into his residence once the show closed.
Living Room – with Loja Saarinen rug leading to the fireplace. Photo by the authors.
The fireplace surround is made from Pewabic tiles from Saarinen’s design and made by Mary Perry Chase Stratton. Pewabic is a Detroit pottery company and one of the oldest operating potteries in the United States.
Detail – Living room corner. Photo by the authors.
Two patinated, bronze, uplighter floor lamps frame the fireplace. The main stem of the lamp rises out of a fluted, bowed outward upper base and culminates in a segmented bronze bowl that shines the light up to the ceiling. Edward F. Caldwell and Company manufactured the lamps as well as all the others in the house. The combination of the indirect light and the golden grasscloth wall covering, bathes the room in a warm glow.
Floor to ceiling book shelves line the walls of the Book Room with a large window that looks out the front of the house completes is just off the living room. Two large overstuffed chairs provide a comfortable place to read in the afternoon.
The Book Room off the living room. Photo by the authors.
Hanging above the nook table is a lamp that features two bronze bowls that mimic the bowls of the floor lamps. The large one facing down to give the table illumination, the small upper bowl provides indirect lighting to the nook.
Though Saarinen designed the furniture in the living room (as well as other rooms of the house) its construction was by Tor Berglund. Berglund a Swedish craftsman working in Cranbrook’s cabinet shop used greenhart, African walnut, rosewood and maple veneers and silk and linen upholstry for the chairs. They are a perfect example of Cranbrook’s team work between design and construction. The one living room design exception is the globe table, that was designed by Robert F. Swanson (1900 – 1981), the Saarinen’s son-in-law.
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- A reading corner features two of the chairs constructed by Tor Berglund. Photo by the authors.
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- Robert F. Swanson’s modernist table between the chairs in the living room’s reading corner. Photo by the authors.
Dining Room
Saarinen House dinning room. Photo by the authors.
Just off the living room is the dining room. The square rug with octagonal pattern mimics the shape of the room. From the ceiling of concentric circles a brass chandelier hangs from the gold gilded dome which bathes the room with soft indirect light.
Detail of the brass dining room chandelier. Photo by the authors.
The warm tones of the living room continue in the dining room with its honey oak paneled walls. And adding a bursts of color in the room are the corner niches with their Chinese red paint.
Dining room corner niche. Photo by the authors.
Made by The Company of Master Craftsman, the Saarinen designed dining chairs are fir with black ocher paint. The fluted back chairs feature red horsehair upholstery. A very clever feature of the inlaid, round dining room table is the ability to remove the outer rim, allowing for more intimate dinner parties.
Dining room table’s outer rim leaves. Photo by the authors.
Dominating the dining room’s interior wall is a large tapestry depicting birds in a tree. The tapestry is a creation of Finnish textile artist Greta Skogster (1900 – 1994) and installed in the room around 1938.
Greta Skogster’s 1938 tapestry of birds in a tree. Photo by the authors.
Studio
The Saarinen House Studio. Photo by the authors.
Just off the living is the studio. Divided into three parts, the first being the alcove, that Loja dubbed the “cozy corner”. The “cozy corner” features a built in bench covered by a green-patterned ryijy. The low ceiling space is illuminate by another indirect lighting patinated bronze, bowl chandelier. This is where the Saarinen’s entertained guest ranging from their grand children to legendary architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Alva Aalto and Le Corbusier.
The studio’s “Cozy Corner”. Photo by the authors.
The largest section of the studio is the barrel-vaulted work room where Eliel and Loja spent most of their time. Drafting tables normally filled the center of the room. But for Holidays and other special occasions the tables were moved and a rug laid down. The rug in the space today is a replica of the original design, and this was the way the Saarinen’s had the room photographed in the mid-1930s.
The replica rug in the studio and Eero Saarinen’s tubular steel chairs. Photo by the authors.
Tubular steel chairs designed by Eero Saarinen for the auditorium of the Kingswood School for Girls line both sides of the studio’s main room.
Eliel’s office occupied the far end of the studio. The large Streamline Moderne desk is where he did the majority of his work.
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- The back of Eliel’s desk. Photo by the authors.
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- Here is the front of the desk and the desk chair. Photo by the authors.
While not far away, between the studio’s office area and the work room, are a bar buffet (another Robert F. Swanson design) and the built in the wall radio-phonograph.
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- The Swanson designed bar buffet. Photo by the authors.
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- The Saarinen designed built in radio-phonograph.
Upstairs
Original Finnish wedding ryijy photo by the authors
Our tour continued heading up a narrow and steep set of stairs. On the wall to the left is a Finnish 1798 wedding ryijy. Loja Saarinen was a big collector of art. And especially art from Finland.
From L to R: utility closet, linen closet and guest bathroom. Photo by the authors
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- Utility closet Photo by the authors
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- Linen closet Photo by the authors
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- Guest bathroom Photo by the authors
At the landing, three doors greet you. The left is a closet and used for general storage, cleaning products, etc, The center is a linen closet and the guest bathroom is to the right. Individual floral design decorate each door. Saarinen’s daughter, Pipsan, hand painted each design.
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- Guest room 1Photo by the authors
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- Guest room 2 Photo by the authors
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- First of two decorative spacer between guest room and son’s room Photo by the authors
Continuing down the hallway is a series of three doors each leading to a bedroom. Note that each door also has a unique floral design. And are more than decorative.
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- The second of two decorative spacer between guest room and son’s room Photo by the authors
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- Eero’s Room Photo by the authors
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- Saarinen master suite Photo by the authors
As a rare, and privileged overnight guest of the Saarinen’s, you receive a card with a particular design. Match the design to the door and you would find your accommodations. These rooms are not part of the general tour.
Unseen on the tour is a fourth bedroom for the servant. It had a private privy and access to stairs leading to the kitchen below.
The breakfast nook Photo by the authors
A small open area fitted out with a table and a settle bench designed by Eliel is at the end of hall. This is the family’s breakfast nook. The fabric covering the benches is original and designed by Loja. The carpet is another Finnish piece of art.
Curtains designed Loja and woven in her studio
The curtains are another Loja design and woven at her studio. The design is a stylized narrative of the Kalevala, the mythical god who created Finland by pulling it out of the Baltic Sea. While not original, they are not quite reproductions either. These are the third iteration of the original designs.
So why are they not reproductions? Made of the same fibers, dyed, and spun as the original were. And woven on the same looms, following the same weaving directions as the original. So, what would you call them?
Moving into the master suite you are immediately taken by the soothing colors and elegant layout.
Loja’s dressing table Photo by the authors
Immediately to your right is a long dressing table flanked with storage draws designed to look like closets. On the dressing table is a bespoke vanity set designed by the Saarinen’s son, Eero.
Vanity set designed by Eero for his mother Photo by the authors
Detail of Vanity set Photo by the authors
As you turn into the room, and on the right, is a large seating area upholstered in the original coral and gold fabric. In front of this is an Art Deco coffee-table painted in a soft grey-green.
Saarinen Master Suite Photo by the authors
Note the Womb Chair (on the right) designed by Eliel in 1949. It was the second one produced by a former student Florence Knolls. It remains a popular design that continues to be produced through today. Separate master / mistress’ beds are directly across the room.
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- The Master and Mistress accommodations with custom nightstand Photo by the authors
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- Detail of the nightstand Photo by the authors
The built in Art Deco side table between the beds reflects the same design and color as the coffee table. Note the conveniently placed outlets above. No detail was considered too small to be overlooked.
The most noticeable feature of the room is the triptych set of mirrors. The left and rightmost doors as well as the mirror doors immediately adjacent to them are actual clothes closets., The mirrored doors flanking the central door, when opened inward, form a three-sided dressing mirror. The surprise is that the center mirror is the entrance to the master bath.
The Master Bathroom boasted the most up-to-date convivences Photo by the authors
Covered in tile, the bathroom boasts of the most modern comforts available. His and her sinks on opposite ends,
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- Her vanity Photo by the authors
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- His vanity and shower room Photo by the authors
A private toilet room, standing shower for him, and soaking tub for her. Showers were relatively new and thought they were not safe for women. The bathmat and towels are another Loja design.
This private suite is just that. The design is strictly a space for Loja and Eliel. However, I like to imagine Loja curling up with her grandson in the sitting area reading stories together or Eliel playing games with the him before sending him off to bed.
The sitting area Photo by the author
From here, visitors are escorted back down to the main floor as the tour has ended. Our guide was more than willing to answer a few questions. However, tours are booked on a tight schedule. Therefore, do not expect an expansive question and answer period.
A somewhat warm day, both of us were parched. And at least one of us required the comfort room. The museum & gift shop offered a small offering of select beverages. Not wanting anything too heavy, we opted to try Fora, the red drink…juicy and delicate. How can we describe that elusive taste? That delicate bouquet? Let us try.
Fora – a mouthful of flora Photo by the authors
It was a mouthful of fizzy roses and hibiscus. Overwhelmingly heavy on both flavors it was neither juicy nor delicate. But it was awful…Blah!