Meadow Brook Hall

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = Meadow Brook Farms

| nrhp_type = nhl

| image = Meadowbrook Hall.JPG

| caption = Estate of Matilda Dodge Wilson

| location = 350 Estate Drive
Rochester Hills, Michigan

| locmapin = Michigan#USA

| map_alt = Location within the state of Michigan

| map_caption = Location within the state of Michigan

| coordinates = {{coord|42|40|19|N|83|12|04|W|display=inline,title}}

| area =

| architect = William E. Kapp
Smith, Hinchman & Grylls

| architecture = Tudor Revival

| built = 1926–1929

| added = April 17, 1979

| refnum = 79001166{{NRISref|2010a}}

| designated_nrhp_type = March 2, 2012{{cite web| url=http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/listings/20120323.htm| title=National Register of Historic Places Listings| website=National Park Service}}

| visitation_num =

| visitation_year =

| designated_other1 = Michigan

| designated_other1_date = November 3, 1976

}}

Meadow Brook Hall is a Tudor revival style mansion located at 350 Estate Drive in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was built between 1926 and 1929 by the heiress to the Dodge automaker fortune, Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, lumber baron, Alfred Wilson. Covering {{convert|88000|sqft|m2}} with 110 rooms,{{cite news| url=https://eu.detroitnews.com/story/life/home-garden/2016/11/17/meadow-brook-hall-holiday-walk/94045168/| title=Welcome Mat: Meadow Brook Hall's Holiday Walk| newspaper=The Detroit News| date=November 17, 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://meadowbrookhall.org/about/history/meadow-brook-hall-history/ |title=Meadow Brook Hall History |website=Meadowbrook Hall}} the structure is the fourth largest historic mansion museum in the United States, and is classified as one of America's Castles.{{cite news |last1=Moutzalias |first1=Tanya |title=Inside Meadow Brook Hall, the historic estate of one of the world's wealthiest women of her time |url=https://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2015/10/historic_estates_inside_meadow.html |access-date=August 24, 2018 |work=MLive |date=October 28, 2015}} In 1957, the mansion and the surrounding property and buildings were donated to the state of Michigan in order to fund Michigan State University–Oakland, now known as Oakland University. The structure was named a National Historic Landmark in 2012.{{cite journal| title=National Historic Landmarks: 13 New Sites Designated| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/national-historic-landmar_n_1326444.html#s760456&title=Meadow_Brook_Hall| journal=HuffPost| date=March 7, 2012| access-date=April 14, 2012}}

History

Meadow Brook Farms originally belonged to Matilda's first husband, automotive tycoon John F. Dodge. He purchased the property along with the large white farmhouse off Adams Road as a holiday retreat for his family. The mansion is located on a {{convert|1443|acre|km2|adj=on}} estate off South Adams Road; Dodge added a nine-hole golf course, some of the holes of which still follow the current Katke-Cousins 18-hole course on the property. Meadow Brook Hall was constructed between 1926 and 1929 by Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband, Alfred Wilson at a cost of $4 million (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US-GDP|4|1926|r=1|fmt=|cursign=}} million in {{Inflation/year|index=US-GDP}}).{{Inflation/fn|US-GDP}}{{cite news |last1=Lavey |first1=Kathleen |title=Check out these 5 Michigan castles |url=https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/travel/michigan/2016/01/07/check-michigan-castles/78414678/ |access-date=August 24, 2018 |newspaper=Times Herald |location=Port Huron, Michigan |date=January 7, 2016}} The couple also owned "Breakwater", an oceanfront home in Bar Harbor, Maine,{{cite web| title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Breakwater| url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/92000275_text| date=March 26, 1992| website=National Park Service| access-date=February 1, 2025}} and a winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona, and also eventually a smaller retirement home, dubbed “Sunset Terrace”, on the Meadow Brook estate, which they occupied from 1953 until Alfred’s death in 1962. Matilda resided at the estate, either at Meadow Brook Hall or Sunset Terrace, for nearly forty years. The Hall was also partially closed for a brief time during the depth of the Depression{{cite news |last1=Colman |first1=Justin |title=Meadow Brook Hall receives national landmark recognition |url=https://oaklandpostonline.com/6269/news/meadow-brook-hall-receives-national-landmark-recognition/ |newspaper=The Oakland Post |access-date=August 24, 2018 |date=March 6, 2012}} during which the family resided in the existing farmhouse.

Covering {{convert|88000|sqft|m2}} and with 110 rooms, the mansion is the fourth largest historic house museum in the United States. It was designed by William Kapp of the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls in a Tudor-revival style.{{cite web |last1=Tate |first1=Robert |title=Meadow Brook Hall Looks Back to Automotive Elegance |url=https://www.motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2017/meadow-brook-hall-looks-back-to-automotive-elegance |website=Motor Cities |access-date=August 24, 2018 |date=June 16, 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/06/14/meadow-brook-hall-architect-william-kapp/7234324002/

|title=Downton Abbey fame leads to Meadow Brook Hall architect getting credit he deserves |first1=Frank |last1=Witsil |date=June 15, 2021 |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |url-access=subscription}} The building features stonework and a plaster dining room ceiling created by Corrado Parducci. Much of the original artwork collected by the Wilsons is still found at Meadow Brook including paintings by Anthony van Dyck, Rosa Bonheur, Joshua Reynolds, John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough, as well as Tiffany glass, Stickley furniture, Meissen porcelain, and Rookwood pottery.{{cite web |last1=Pollack |first1=Susan |title=Historic Auto Baron Home Tours to Check Out |url=http://experiencemichiganmag.com/2015/09/01/historic-auto-baron-home-tours/ |website=Experience Michigan Magazine |access-date=August 24, 2018 |date=September 1, 2015}} The estate was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and National Historic Landmark in 2012.{{cite web |title=Meadow Brook Hall |url=https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=100371 |website=The Historical Marker Database |access-date=August 24, 2018}}

File:A LIVINGROOM FROM SUMMER ROOM ENTRY.jpg

In 1957, Alfred and Matilda Dodge Wilson donated the 1,500 acre estate to Michigan State University, along with $2 million to create a branch college campus, now known as Oakland University. The Wilsons moved out of Meadow Brook Hall in 1953 into their newly built retirement home, Sunset Terrace nearby, and lived there until Alfred's death in 1962. Mrs. Wilson moved back into Meadow Brook Hall within months of her husband's death, and lived there until her death in 1967. Sunset Terrace now serves as the residence for the current President of Oakland University.

Additional buildings which were also designed by William Kapp on the estate included:

Knole Cottage (1926), a six-room miniature playhouse on the Meadow Brook estate.
Sunset Terrace, a retirement home for Matilda and Alfred Wilson on Meadow Brook, which in 1963 became the Oakland University president's home.

Concours d'Elegance

The Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance was held annually during August on the grounds of Meadow Brook Hall from 1979 until 2010.{{cite web| title=Concours| website=ConcoursUSA| url=http://concoursusa.org/about| access-date=March 18, 2011}} This week-long event was one of the largest collector car shows in the world, and a social event in the tradition of the first Concours in 1920s Paris which was an exhibition of automotive design, craftsmanship, history and a tool for automobile manufacturers to market products. Over the years, the event also served as a fundraiser for the preservation of Meadow Brook Hall.{{cite web| title=Frequently Asked Questions| publisher=Meadow Brook Hall Concours d'Elegance| url=http://www.diversifiedcomputerservices.com/Meadowbrook/faq.htm| year=2003| access-date=March 18, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321141700/http://www.diversifiedcomputerservices.com/Meadowbrook/faq.htm| archive-date=March 21, 2012| url-status=dead}}

On July 20, 2010, promoters announced that the Concours d'Elegance would leave Meadow Brook Hall after that year for the Inn at St. John's in Plymouth, Michigan.{{cite news| url=http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/detroits-concours-delegance-of-america-to-leave-meadow-brook| newspaper=The New York Times| date=July 30, 2010| first=Larry| last=Edsall| access-date=October 25, 2010| title=Detroit's Concours d'Élégance of America to Leave Meadow Brook| url-access=subscription}} The event is now known at the Concours d'Elegance of America at St. John's.{{cite journal| last=Hart| first=Roger| title=Elegance Endures| journal=AutoWeek| date=August 22, 2011| volume=61|issue=17| page=38| issn=0192-9674}}

References

;Inline

;General

A&E with Richard Guy Wilson, Ph.D.,(2000). America's Castles: The Auto Baron Estates, A&E Television Network.
Kvaran, Einar Einarsson, Shadowing Parducci, unpublished manuscript.
Wilson, Matilda Rausch Dodge, Debbie Patrick, ed., (1998). A Place in the Country: Matilda Wilson's Personal Guidebook to Meadow Brook Hall, Rochester, MI: Oakland University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-9666-9880-0}}