Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was born 20 August 1873 to Juho and Selma Broms Saarinen in Rantasalmi, Finland. He studied painting at the University of Helsingfors and architecture at Helsingfors' Polytekniska Institute from 1893-1897. He maintained an architectural practice in Finland with classmates Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren from 1896-1905. On 15 November 1899 Saarinen married Mathilda Gylden. After their divorce in 1904, Mathilda married Herman Gesellius.

On 6 March 1904 Saarinen married Minna Carolina Mathilde Louise “Loja” Gesellius, sister of Herman Gesellius. She was born on 16 March 1879 to Herman Otto and Emilie Caroline Auguste Gesellius in Helsingfors, Finland. Loja studied art in Helsinki at Taideteollinen Keskuskoulu, 1898-99, and at Suomen Taideyhdistyksen Piirustuskoulu, 1899-1902. After studying sculpture in Paris at Academie Colarossi under Jean-Antoine Injaalbert, she joined her brother in 1903 at Hvittrask where the architectural firm of Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen was located. Here she worked on commissions for interiors, photography and sculpture. Lindgren left the firm in 1905 and Gesellius and Saarinen continued the firm until 1907 when Saarinen began his own private practice. The Saarinen's daughter Eeva Lisa “Pipsan” was born in Helsingfors, Finland on 31 March 1905 and their son Eero was born in Kyrkslaett, Finland on 20 August 1910.

In 1922, Eliel won second place in the international competition for the Tribune Tower in Chicago. In February of 1923, Eliel Saarinen went to the United States to visit colleagues, and in April of that year the family settled in Evanston, Illinois where Eliel began a limited architectural practice. In the fall of 1923 the Saarinens moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where Eliel became a visiting professor of architecture at the University of Michigan. Shortly after his arrival, Eliel met the Detroit newspaper magnate George Gough Booth, who was to become his chief patron in America. At Booth’s invitation, Saarinen moved his practice to Bloomfield Hills in 1925, and he spent the remainder of his life assisting in the design and development of the cultural complex that Booth constructed at his country estate, Cranbrook. Saarinen also continued to work on a number of outside architectural commissions and projects.

In 1928, Loja Saarinen established a weaving firm at Cranbrook, Studio Loja Saarinen, to provide quality fabrics and textiles for Cranbrook buildings and private commissions. Studio Loja Saarinen had close ties with the Weaving Department of Cranbrook Academy of Art, which Loja headed between 1932 and 1942. Studio Loja Saarinen officially closed in 1942, but Loja remained semi-active in weaving up to the late 1940's.

Both Pipsan and Eero, educated in design by their parents, continued in design fields. Eero attended Yale School of Architecture from 1930-1934 and became successful in architectural work, first with his father and brother-in-law, J. Robert F. Swanson, then with his own architectural office, Eero Saarinen & Associates. Pipsan became a successful designer in home and office interiors and furniture design, and headed the company, Swanson Associates, with her husband.

Between 1932-1946, Eliel served as the president of Cranbrook Academy of Art. Thereafter, he continued as the director of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design until his death on 1 July 1950. In 1951, Loja moved from Saarinen House into a small home Eero built for her next to his Bloomfield Hills home on Vaughan Road, where she lived until her death on 21 April 1968. Eero died in Ann Arbor on 1 September 1961, and Pipsan passed away after a short illness on 23 October 1979 in Bloomfield Township, Michigan.