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Find answers to your questions below or ask your own question about the tours by
clicking here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q.
How many houses did Alden B. Dow design in Midland?
A. There are 61
houses in Midland designed by Mr. Dow.
Q. How many houses did Alden
B. Dow design in all?
A. 223
Q. Other than Midland, where
did Alden B. Dow design buildings?
A. Other than Midland,
there are structures in these Michigan cities: Adrian, Algonac, Alma, Ann Arbor,
Bay City, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Crystal Lake, Dearborn, East Grand
Rapids, East Lansing, East Tawas, Flint, Fort Gratiot, Grand Haven, Grand Rapids,
Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Park, Hillsdale, Indian River, Kalamazoo, Lapeer,
Livonia, Mona Lake, Muskegon, Mt. Pleasant, Okemos, Oscoda, Petoskey, Port Huron,
Roscommon, Saginaw, St. Clair Shores, and Traverse City. Outside of Michigan: Elkhart
& South Bend, IN; Durham, NC; Cape Fear and Spring Valley, NY; Canton, OH; West
Chester, PA; Freeport, Houston, Lake Jackson, Sweeny, Velasco, TX; and Phoenix,
AZ.
Q. What is in the archives?
A. The Archives'
holdings include: project drawings, project files, publications, project photographs,
slides, and transparencies, oral histories, sketchbooks, architectural movies by
Mr. Dow, speeches, clothing designed by Mr. Dow, Mr. Dow's personal library, and
personal correspondence.
Q. Do the Archives include
things other than his architectural records?
A. The Archives
are located in the original play room of Mr. Dow's house. His magnificent mechanical
toy collection is displayed as well as an outstanding collection of mechanical trains
that travel throughout three rooms in the basement level of the home.
Q. How many drawings do
you have?
A. There are more
than 20,000 project drawings in the Archives.
Q. Do I need a specific
topic to do research in the Archives?
A. When making
an appointment to do research in the Archives, you will be asked what your topic
for research is.
Q. Other than architectural
drawings, what else is there to access in the archives?
A. Other than drawings
there are textual files for each project that include specifications, bids, contracts,
project costs, and correspondence relating to the project. In addition there are
photos, slides, transparencies, movies, and other related material.
Q. Do you have any articles
on Mr. Dow's architecture?
A. We have over
1600 articles that were written about Mr. Dow and his architecture. They date from
1931 to the present.
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