Saarinen House

01 / The story of this place

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Saarinen House sits on the Cranbrook Educational Community campus in Bloomfield Hills, designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen as a home and working studio for his own family after he became Cranbrook's resident architect and the first head of its Academy of Art. Completed around 1930, the house and its interiors form one of the most complete surviving examples of Saarinen's Art Deco design work, down to custom furniture, textiles and metalwork. Eliel lived and worked there with his wife, textile artist Loja Saarinen, who wove many of the house's rugs and fabrics, from 1930 until his death in 1950. Their son Eero Saarinen, who grew up partly in the house and went on to design landmarks such as the St. Louis Gateway Arch and Dulles Airport, contributed furniture designs while living there as a young man. The house is now preserved as a museum, administered and opened for guided tours through Cranbrook Art Museum.

1. Designed by Eliel Saarinen as his family home, completed around 1930
2. Loja Saarinen wove many of its original textiles
3. Eero Saarinen lived there and contributed furniture designs as a young man
4. Now a house museum with tours through Cranbrook Art Museum