IN THE ARCHIVES: The Dr. Charles MacCallum Residence In the spring of 1935, Dr. Charles MacCallum, Midland’s only physician, asked Alden B. Dow to design a residence for the sloping lot he purchased from Mr. Dow just north of the Midland Country Club. The initial...
The selection of an architect for a new building for the First Presbyterian Church of Dearborn took more than a year of research by its Building Committee. Thirty-five architectural firms submitted answers to questionnaires. On January 21, 1960, the congregation...
In 1959, six Dominican Sisters from Adrian traveled to Midland to discuss a proposed Catholic high school for girls with architect Alden B. Dow. A fund raising campaign was launched and ground finally was broken for the new school on Easter Sunday of 1962. Six...
In 1967, the Michigan Foundation for Advanced Research announced plans to sponsor a laboratory in Midland to be devoted to research and the advanced training of scientists in the field of macromolecular study. The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation was one of...
Northeast Intermediate School, Midland, Michigan Alden B. Dow designed Northeast Intermediate School in 1949. It is an L-shaped two-story brick structure that uses ribbons of windows to bring light into classrooms and hallways. At the time of its dedication...
Calvin A. Campbell was a fraternity brother of Alden B. Dow’s at the University of Michigan in the 1920’s. In the summer of 1939, he contacted Mr. Dow about designing a home for him. Plans were drawn in late summer and construction was completed in July of 1940....
T. Keller succeeded Walter Chrysler as the chief executive officer of the Chrysler Corporation in 1935. Between 1938 and 1940, Alden B. Dow presented Mr. and Mrs. Keller with several stunning designs for a home on a hill overlooking the St. Clair River in...
The residence that Alden B. Dow designed for his cousin, Howard Ball, in 1935 is one of three unit block houses situated near one another on West St. Andrews Road in Midland, Michigan. They are all in close proximity to the Midland Country Club, also designed by...
Alden B. Dow began the design for a summer home in Midland for James and Elsa Pardee in January 1936, shortly after Mr. Pardee was elected chairman of the board of the Dow Chemical Company. It would be Mr. Dow’s grandest commission and his most expensive unit block...
In 1946, Alden B. Dow was selected to design the first official residence for Michigan’s governor in the state capital of Lansing. In a letter to the director of the Division of Building Construction, the architect described in detail the residence he envisioned:...
As World War II drew to a close, Alden B. Dow actively participated in the design of badly needed low-cost housing. Seeking an efficient and economical way to build homes, the Ingersoll Steel and Disc Division of Borg-Warner Corporation of Kalamazoo produced a...
LeRoy Smith and his family lived in Highland Park, Michigan, but owned land along the St. Clair River near Algonac for summer trips. In the late 1930’s, they decided to build a summer house on the property to take advantage of the river view. Mr. Smith wrote to...