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Bloomfield Blossoms: p. 130-131

Smith, Kay, 1925-

Bloomfield Township Public Library

Churches -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Township

Christ Church, Cranbrook (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)

Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

GB01a067

part of 'Bloomfield Blossoms' by Kay Smith

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THE HILLS' CHURCHES There is more land in Bloomfield Hills dedicated to houses of worship than there is commercial or office land put together. There are six churches within the city limits, representing a number of denominations. Christ Church, Cranbrook, is the major Episcopal church of the area; St. Hugo's the Roman Catholic; The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, the Mormon; and both the Congregational Church and the Unitarian Church have built edifices along Woodward Avenue. A new church, The Bloomfield Hills Christian Church, is now planning to build in the Hills also. Christ Church, Cranbrook, began in a tent, moved to the Meeting House and in July of 1925 ground was broken for the present beautiful house of worship. On Easter Sunday of 1926 the first service was held in St. Dunstan's chapel, the largest of the three chapels within the church. It was named for a tenth century archbishop of Canterbury, who, it's said "tweaked the devil's nose." Crafstmen from England and America worked on the church and there are art works from every century from the 11th on, and the work is crowned with a 32-bell carillon. Christ Church was completed in 1928. The Unitarian Church was designed by Minoru Yamasaki and built in 1958. The Mormon Church nearby was designed on specifications from the church headquarters in Salt Lake City. St. Hugo's, a Norman Gothic building on Opdyke, is located on "Stonycroft," the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore F. MacManus, who built the church in memory of their deceased sons, Hugo and Hubert. All four and a son-in-law are interred in a crypt in the church. It was dedicated in June of 1936.