The Scripps Mansion is truly itself a work of art, right down to every last door hinge.
Built in 1926 as the country home of William E. Scripps, the 67-room mansion boasts metal work by Oscar Bach, leather ceilings and an Istrian marble fireplace from Italy.
“It’s a work of art,” said Guest House President and CEO Daniel Kidd. Guest House currently owns and operates the mansion and 102 surrounding acres as a treatment center for Catholic nuns with addictions to alcohol, overeating and compulsive gambling.
“Most of the fixtures are original,” Kidd said. “There’s a ceiling that’s never been touched…it was so well done.”
Kidd said all of the artwork in the home was symbolic, even the stone work over rooms of the home announcing each one’s purpose.
“Over the library there are books, and instruments over the music room,” Kidd said. “Everything connects with something else.”
The home has a large collection of metal work, including pieces done by renowned metal artist Oscar Bach.
“Two of his pieces are worth more than what we paid for the house,” Kidd said. “It’s all done by American craftsmen, except for the fireplace which was sent over and is 400 years old.
“This is an artistically significant place for this area,” he said. “After Meadowbrook, it’s the number two historically significant home in Michigan.”
Recently the mansion was designated “second most significant country house built in the first quarter of the 20th century in Michigan,” according to James W. Tottis, Curator of American Art for the Detroit Institute of Arts, which the Scripps family helped found.
“In his day, Scripps actually hosted kings and queens here,” said Guest House Vice President for Development and Public Relations Pat Zawadzki. “Amelia Earhart flew off from here once.”
Visitors are welcomed to the home by a large mosaic piece that Kidd said was done by one of the priests who stayed there.
“It means ‘You are safe here,'” he said. “There are lots of medieval symbols in this place.”
An iron door at the front of the home, done by Oscar Bach, is worth $100,000. There is Pewabic tile, specially designed and made in Detroit, in the bathrooms.
The Great Hall has original fixtures and most of the furniture in the home is original. Kidd said what sets it apart from most historical homes is that this one is in use.
“It’s not just a museum,” he said. “It’s a working house.”
The library features a leather ceiling, and the former party room is now used as a chapel by the nuns. There are figures in stone of Scripps and his father on the ceiling in the chapel, and the Provinces of France Coats of Arms in the stained glass windows.
The house also has the second oldest still-operating Otis elevator in the country.
“In 1977 there was an auction, and they sold off a lot of tables, chairs and other furniture,” said Kidd. “But a lot of the artwork is still here…there is a portrait of the Madonna with Child in the great hall that has been here since the 1930s.”
See the masterpieces of Scripps Mansion for yourself by taking a tour during the Art, Autos and Architecture event on July 26-27. Call 391-4445 for more information. Advance tickets are available.