Alden B. Dow designed more than 30 religious structures during his career as an architect. After houses, he most enjoyed the challenge of elevating the way people thought about and experienced their houses of worship. In speaking to delegates attending the National Conference on Church Architecture in 1958, Mr. Dow…
Join The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio this November 28th to December 31st for Holiday Tours. Enjoy the original Dow Family Decorations, shimmering lights, captivating bright colors, beautiful ornaments, scale trains, playful toys and sugar cookies and cider! Daily Tours by Reservation Monday-Saturday at 2pm Friday-Saturday at 10 am…
Click Here to view Junia Doan's "The Spark" featuring Craig McDonald Director of The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio "Life Lessons from Alden B. Dow"
CLICK HERE to listen to US Modernist Radio - Architecture You Love #77/Michigan Modern: Michael Dow + Susan Bandes + Brian Conway with Musical Guests The Mac McLaughlin Group Michigan, that fine state shaped like your hand, is a hotbed of amazing Modernism. Today George Smart and co-host Bob Langford…
Leo B. Grant was the manager of the Dow Chemical Company’s Dow Metal (magnesium) division. In the spring of 1940 he approached Alden B. Dow about the prospect of designing a home for his family. By early June, the drawings were ready to be sent to contractors for bids. The…
A. W. Hodgkiss and H. W. Douma were business partners in an engineering and construction firm in Petoskey, Michigan. They lived close to one another in homes designed by Alden B. Dow that overlook Little Traverse Bay. The Hodgkiss Residence was built in 1939 and sits on the crest of…
Mrs. Clark T. Wells expressed her wishes for a home for her husband and family in a letter to Alden B. Dow on December 3, 1939. “We have decided to abandon the idea of a one-story house. We feel that perhaps we can get more for our money and an extra…
In 1941 Millard Saxton founded the Engineered Products Company working from his garage in Flint, Michigan, making storm door locking mechanisms. Still in business today, EPCO is a brand name for architectural hardware products. Well-acquainted with Alden B. Dow’s work, Mr. Saxton asked the architect to design a home for…
In the seven years after Alden B. Dow opened his practice in Midland, he built 13 houses using unit blocks, which became a kind of trademark. In the interest of flexibility and economy, he began exploring the use of frame and panel materials for textural contrast. This new expression of…
In 1936 Miss Mary Dow asked her nephew, Alden B. Dow, to design a retirement home for her in Saginaw, Michigan. She had purchased a narrow, sloping lot next to the First Congregational Church and just down the street from Hoyt Library on S. Jefferson Avenue, where she had worked…