Christ Church Cranbrook
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Christ Church Cranbrook, front view, 2008
Christ Church Cranbrook, 2008
Christ Church Cranbrook, ca. 1977
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
After George Gough Booth, publisher of the Detroit News and other newspapers in the Scripps-Booth empire, established the Cranbrook community on his Bloomfield Hills country estate in 1922, he realized that the community needed a church, as local residents had to travel to nearby towns to attend worship services. To address the need, Booth and his wife funded the construction of Christ Church Cranbrook, breaking ground for the new edifice in 1925. The building was designed by the associates of nationally renowned architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, who specialized in the Gothic Revival form. Goodhue had died in 1924, before construction began on the Cranbrook church.
The Detroit Free Press announced in November 1924 that the new church would be an Episcopalian congregation, and its first rector would be Dr. Samuel S. Marquis, who had formerly served the Cathedral Church of St. Paul and St. John's Episcopal Church in Detroit. The first worship services were held in the new sanctuary on Easter Sunday, April 8, 1928, and the building was formally consecrated on September 29, 1928.
The building is adorned with the work of a number of prominent artists, including woodcarver John Kirchmayer, silversmith Arthur Nevill, stained glass artist G. Owen Bonawit, and sculptor Lee Lawrie. A large fresco by Katherine McEwen is featured at the front of the church. A ceramic tile mosaic by Mary Chase Perry Stratton of Detroit's famed Pewabic Pottery decorates the baptistry vault.
A carillon of sixty-two bells was installed in the belfry, comprising four complete musical octaves. The bells were crafted at the Taylor Bell Foundry of Loughborough, England, and were dedicated with a recital given by Anton Brees, bellmaster of the Bok Singing Tower in Florida.
Sources
"Marquis Gets New Church: Magnificent Edifice to be First of its Kind in Bloomfield Hills," Detroit Free Press, November 21, 1924, p.3.
"New Church is $600,000 Gift," Detroit Times, November 21, 1924, p.17.
"Episcopal Church, School Endowed by Mr. and Mrs. Booth," Birmingham Eccentric, November 28, 1924, p.1.
"Work on New Christ Church Cranbrook Starts Next Week," Birmingham Eccentric, July 3, 1925, p.1.
"Bishop Lays Church Stone at Cranbrook," Birmingham Eccentric, June 24, 1926, p.1.
"First Services in Beautiful New Cranbrook Church Sunday," Detroit Times, April 8, 1928, p.11.
"Christ Church Consecrated," Detroit Free Press, September 30, 1928, p.5.
"New Church Consecrated," Detroit Times, September 30, 1928, p.4.
"Christ Church Consecration is Impressive," Birmingham Eccentric, October 4, 1928, p.1.
Thistle. Christ Church Cranbrook, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. [Bloomfield Hills, Mich.: The Church], 1940.
Dave Parker, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Dave Parker, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Deborah Larsen (with permission from the Clarence Whitbey family)