Meadow Brook Hall
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Meadow Brook Farms
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Estate of Matilda Dodge Wilson
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Location within the state of Michigan
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| Location | 350 Estate Drive Rochester Hills, Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 42°40′19″N 83°12′04″W / 42.67194°N 83.20111°WCoordinates: 42°40′19″N 83°12′04″W / 42.67194°N 83.20111°W |
| Built | 1926–1929 |
| Architect | William E. Kapp Smith, Hinchman & Grylls |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 79001166 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 17, 1979 |
| Designated NHL | March 2, 2012 |
| Designated MSHS | November 3, 1976 |
Meadow Brook Hall is a Tudor revival style mansion located at 480 South Adams Road in Rochester Hills, Michigan. It was built between 1926 and 1929 by Matilda Dodge Wilson (the widow of auto pioneer John Francis Dodge) and her second husband, lumber broker Alfred G. Wilson. In 1957, the mansion and the surrounding property and buildings were donated to the State of Michigan in order to found Michigan State University–Oakland, now known as Oakland University. In 2012, it was named a National Historic Landmark.
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 of Adams Road as a holiday retreat for his family. John Dodge had three children with his first wife, Ivy Hawkins, and three with Matilda Rausch. The mansion is located on a 1,400-acre (5.7 km2) 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. Throughout her lifetime, Matilda resided in the hall for over forty years. Some of the family's time was spent vacationing at their summer home in Bar Harbor, Maine and winter home in Scottsdale, Arizona. The hall was also partially closed for a brief time during the depth of the Depression.
Often referred to as one of America's "castles," the 110-room, 88,000-square-foot (8,200 m2) mansion is currently ranked sixth on the list of Largest Historic Homes in the United States, but is the third largest historic house museum. It was designed by William Kapp of the firm Smith, Hinchman & Grylls in a Tudor-revival style and built of predominantly American materials. The playful Romanesque architectural sculpture that adorns the building was 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 and sculpture by Antoine-Louis Barye, Cyrus Edwin Dallin, and Herbert Haseltine. The home and the surrounding estate, known as Meadow Brook Farms, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and as of 2012, the estate is a National Historic Landmark. Landmark status is the highest honor a historic place in the United States can receive.
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