Melvyn Maxwell Smith (1914-1984) was born on March 12, 1914, in Detroit, Michigan, into an orthodox Jewish family. Upon graduation from Northern High School in Detroit, he was accepted to the School of Architecture at the University of Michigan, where his brother, Marty, was already attending the School of Dentistry. Due to the economic depression of the 1930s, Melvyn’s family suggested he attend Wayne University College of Education for two years until they could afford to send him to the University of Michigan. By the end of his first semester, Melvyn had decided to become a teacher – a decision inspired by Miss Boyer, his English teacher, and an expert on transcendentalism, who demonstrated to Melvyn how a teacher could change a student’s values. He remained at Wayne University and in 1936, began work on his doctorate at the College of Education. While attending an art history class taught by Professor Jane Betsy Welling, he learned of Frank Lloyd Wright and resolved that he was going to have a home designed by the architect. Henceforth, Melvyn had an interest in Wright, gathering a vast collection of materials about Wright’s philosophy and architecture. After graduation, he became a teacher at Cody High School in Detroit where he remained for his entire career (38 years), and where he established and maintained the Comet yearbook. He also owned a joint venture called G.G. & S. Realty, which later became G.G. & W. Realty, with his sister, Jennie Goldberg. Sara Evelyn Stein (1907-2005) was born in 1907, in South Fork, Pennsylvania, one of six children. After a move to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the family settled in Detroit, Michigan. Although Sara dreamed of becoming a professional actress, she trained to be a kindergarten teacher. Her parents had both immigrated from Lithuania in the late 1880s and were deeply religious Orthodox Jews. Sara attended the B’nai Moshe Sunday School, where she met Melvyn in 1937. Melvyn and Sara were married on March 21, 1940. In 1941, they traveled to Lake Louise and Banff National Park, Alberta, via Wisconsin. On their journey through Wisconsin, they noticed a sign to Taliesin, which lead to them meeting Frank Lloyd Wright. Melvyn, inspired by Wright’s $5,000 design for a house for the journalist, Herbert Jacobs, asked the architect to do the same for him, and he later recalled that Wright advised him to find a piece of property that no one else wants with the idea that a less desirable piece of land would be more likely to have an interesting natural site for Wright to respond to. In February 1942, Melvyn joined the US Army and was sent initially to Wichita Falls, Texas. After he was transferred to Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sara joined him until a subsequent transfer to Gulfport, Mississippi. Sara, in her seventh month of pregnancy, returned to Detroit until she could join Melvyn again, now in Biloxi, Mississippi, this time bringing their son, Robert Nathaniel, “Bobby” (1944-2003). After one final transfer to Fort Worth, Texas, they returned to Detroit in 1946. After experiencing some difficulty in securing land for their home, Melvyn acquired the property on Ponvalley Road. Melvyn’s brother-in-law, Irving Goldberg, helped him to acquire Tidewater red cypress and hardware supplies for construction at little cost. A unique feature of the house is its radiant floor heat system in which hot water is carried in piping underneath concrete which is scored with a two by four feet indentation. Completed in 1950, the Smith House is an excellent example of Wright’s Usonian ideal, which aimed to build quality houses for the American middle class. On a visit to the house in 1951, Wright called it “My Little Gem.” In 1968, the house was modified to add a garden room and expanded terrace with the architectural project lead by Wright’s chief assistant and head of the Taliesin Associated Architects, William Wesley Peters, who also became Frank Lloyd Wright’s son-in-law. Peters also provided designs for a tea house/gazebo, but the project was not built. The Smiths welcomed countless visitors and guests to their house, giving many house tours to local community groups as well as architecture schools. The Smiths were involved in many community organizations and especially participated in promoting the arts in the local community, both being active members of the Arts Council Triangle, a tri-city organization of Bloomfield, Birmingham, and Troy. Melvyn was a board member of the Wayne State University Alumni Association and was instrumental in the creation of the Betsey Welling Memorial Court, for which he donated the sculpture, In Lieu, by Robert Schefman. Sara was active in the performing arts and contributed to the Cranbrook Summer Theatre programs, as well as teaching the Popcorn Players Theater group at Birmingham Community House. Their son, Robert (Bobby), married Anne Fuchs (b.1947) in 1972, and they had two children, Jennifer (b.1975) and Michael (b.1977). Sara retired from teaching in 1974, and Melvyn retired from teaching in the Detroit Public Schools in 1975. They both remained continually active in community activities. Melvyn passed away on July 30, 1984. Sara continued to live in the house until 1994, when health problems necessitated a permanent move to Santa Barbara to live with Robert, Anne, and their children. In 1997, the Melvyn Maxwell and Sara Smith Foundation was formed, and the house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Robert Smith died in 2003 and Sara Smith died in 2005. Anne Smith later married Michael Towbes (1929-2017), in 2005, and the Towbes Foundation, now the owner of the house, funded a renovation project in 2012 under the supervision of Tim Jones, Vice President with the Farbman Group. Marvin Shwedel, Sara’s nephew, and his wife Dorie helped Sara take care of the house after Melvyn’s death. When Marvin died in 2014, Dorie continued the upkeep of the house. In 2013, Cranbrook was awarded a three-year grant with the Towbes Foundation to make an inventory of art objects and to create a researched script to transition house tours from being family-member led to Cranbrook staff led. In 2015, a second three-year grant was awarded to continue tours and conduct oral histories. After Michael Towbes died in 2017, the Frank Lloyd Wright Smith House was donated to Cranbrook Educational Community by the Towbes Foundation.