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DESCENDING PO(
CRANBROOK TOUR
Twenty.miles northwest of dowVntown Detroit are located a church, three private schools,
fine libraries, an academy of art and an institute of science.
This is Cranbrook -- a striking illustration of what philanthropy can accomplish.
By DEBRA DURCHSLAG alL It includes day students and
Daily Magazine Editor boarders, and the emphasis in
either case is on individual atten-
is a go tion. The school ratio is one in-
ngsh name. The first Earl structor for every nine boys, with
of Cranbrook, Gathorne Gathorne- classes generally limited to 15.
Hardy by name, was a British Cranbrook School has a good
taman who served in parlia- many traditions: boys stand when
ment with some distinction and the naster enters the room, chap-
ended up as a Viscount. The el attendance is compulsory, use of
town of Cranbrook, England - radios and phonographs in dormi-
nestled along the Crane brook- t
toty rooms is reserved for seniors
is considered picturesque, hard -but a Cranbrook boy finds that
working and a tribute to English
";; along with the prep school edu-
agriculture, cation he has acquired a substan-
In America we have given it an- tial education.
other distinction. Transplanted to
the etrit reawhe Gergeand Theelds ninety-acre campus In-
the Detroit arca when George and cludes. in addition to the dormi-
Ellen Scripps Booth established tories and class building, two
their homestead here in 1904, the gymnasiums, an arts and science
name was first nothing more than building, a science research labor-
a nostalgic carry-over from the atory, a music building, a dining
Kentish village where the Booth hall, a large stadium and playing
family had its origins. At first fields Grades run from the sev-
Through community needs, later enth thsouh the ts slfth, and
through conscious planning, the upon irdution it is generally
name Cranbrook now stands forI sisumed that the student will have
a well thought-out concept of edu- no difficulty in being admitted to
rtion. 1the colleie of his choice. Cianbrook
The public impression of Cran- u etated tit Ins the beat
brook varies according to specific 1 .
interests -- religious, educational
or cultural. To the school chil- 4 5 A CGUNTRPART to Cran-
\ "" dren who take museum trips Cran- brook, Kingswood School was
brook means the Institute of Sci- founded for girls in 1930. It also
ence - to artists and craftsmen had the benefit of Saarinen's
OLS WITH MILLES FOUNTAIN SCULPTURES FISH & MIERMAIDS throughout the country, Cran- striking architectural planning,
brook signifies fine art. And to and like its brother school prides
many othera, it is a good way to itself on providing an extensive
spend a Sunday afternoon. curriculum with emphasis on in-
dividual expression,
TECHNICALLY, Cranbrook is a Kingswood is a day and board-
foundation - established in ing school from the seventh
1927 and now including six insti- through 12th grades, with resi-
tutions Officially known as the deene priviees limited to girls
Cranbrook Foundation, the estate in the ninth through 12th. Draw-
is fitted out with a charter, a list in, painting, weaving, ceramics,
of trustees, and endowment. Its music, dramatics are only some of
beginning, however, was much the specialized activities available
more casual. to the girls in addition to acade-
The people of the area needed mi -subjects.
a meeting house: a place to wor- Kingswood, too, has its tradi-
ship, to discuss, to send their chil- tions. It is named, for example,
dren to school, The Booths, with after the paternal grandmother
the spacious Cranbrook property of the founder of the Booth fain-
at hand, donated a portion of land ily-and as a book on the Booth
and erected a Meetinfg House in family testifies, the school "has
1918 her tea caddy as a cherished pos-
Perhaps philanthropy always session."
starts out by chance. In any event,
the modest community religious Social activities are somewhat
activity soon blossomed into a deed supervised i scope, as a quote
of gift creating Christ Church from the catalog will indicate:
Cranbrook in 1925. "Parties and week-end diversions
Meanwhile, the Bloomfield Hills should be carefully limited as a
School, which had been holding protection to the student's physi-
forth in the old Meeting House, cal and nervous well-being.' But
N: had increased so much that in again, the six-year Kingswood
IETALSMITHING ... PAINTING - AT THE ACADEMY OF ART 1929 a new and larger building course is a unique educational ex-
was joined with the old, and per'ence, and turns out girls who
Brookside School for younger chil- are well-prepared for college stu-
dren was established, dy.
HRIST Church and Brookside WITH THE establishment of the
the Booths did on their own. Institute of Science and Aca-
But with the advent of Eliel Saar- demy of Art, Cranbrook became a
nen, the Cranbrook plan was definite part of the public's edu-
crystallized. George Booth, Jr., the cational and cultural life.
son of the original donor, met The Foundation had never been
Saarinen up here at the University content to settle down, close its
while the Scandinavian architect doors, and become little more than
was on an exchange professorship. a fashionable group of private
The son had been acquainted schools- but with these later ad-
with Saarinen's work, and he knew ditions, the three hundred acres
that the elder Booth had been of rolling land in Bloomfield Hills
considering the idea of a boy's became actively importani in the
school for some time. A meeting state's intellect ual developmentit
was arrangedand today we have and a landmairk of great pride to
Cranbrook staste resident
After Saarinen built his first In addition to the oPOrtul-
swork, the Booth gift of the entire ties they provide foi research and
--estate was formalized. The Cran- instruction, both the Iistitute and
brook Foundation was established, the Academy boast. extraordinsai'y
3 i and Saarinen went on to map out museums. The natural history
the Cranbsook landscape. museut is the neaot museum of
s at at t a its type in. 'lealetr it.and
RANBROOK School for boys the art iswius im. s ire nu t sh
e was Saarinen's first Booth the Bohi's siestn collstion, has
- commission as well as his first be ci xpidis 'steadily
major architectural achievement
n Atneric' The school encom-- H' IN 'TITI of P'iice iS
passes a group of buildings which the yoCer a 01 l le fiat.
100K SC110(L FOR t OYVS, 1SEEN ACROSS 1T1E"ATILETIC F31ELD accommiodat e (jme 300 students in: Se, Ej nTi 'L 3a
POTTERY ... M
lEA VIEW OF CuRANBL