Robert Myers was a successful dairy farmer turned editor and publisher of the Lapeer, Michigan, County Press. In May of 1950, he approached Alden B. Dow with an idea to build an unconventional farm house on his 400-acre farm. Myers used the words of Henry David...
As President of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation, Alden B. Dow wrote a letter to Midland’s city manager in 1950 expressing the Foundation’s wish to finance the design and construction of a new public library to be situated in what then was the family’s...
Beginning in 1949, the Phoenix Civic Center was designed in stages by Alden B. Dow. His plan grouped a public library, a little theater, an art museum, and support facilities around a square interior courtyard whose landscaping included a pool and native plants,...
In the spring of 1936, Alden B. Dow prepared drawings of a residence for George Greene, a plant engineer with the Dow Chemical Company. Construction of the 1600 square foot house began in June 1936 and was completed in March 1937 at a final cost of $16, 983. It...
Alden B. Dow began the plans for the Charles Morrison residence in August of 1939. He also served as the general contractor and his company, the Alden Dow Building Company, did the construction. The price of the home was bid at $13,674. Work began around...
Dr. William Schuette was a chemical engineer and the general manager of the Midland Division of the Dow Chemical Company. When Alden B. Dow met with Dr. and Mrs. Schuette in 1958 to discuss their requirements in a home, the couple had two daughters and a son. In...
The unit block home Alden B. Dow designed for his younger sister Dorothy and her husband Anderson Arbury in 1939 was grand in scale and unique in appearance. The design follows that of a pinwheel, with the center on the entrance that lies at the intersection of...
In 1958 the University of Michigan commissioned Alden B. Dow to design a complex of greenhouses, laboratories, classrooms, and offices for its relocated and expanded botanical gardens. Key features of the complex include a large conservatory, an open auditorium...
Messiah Lutheran Church was one of 11 religious structures designed by Alden B. Dow in the 1950’s. He was selected by the church Building Committee in 1954, one year after completing another Lutheran church, St. John’s, in his home town of Midland. Composed of...
Oscar Diehl was a salesman for the Dow Chemical Company. He and his wife purchased a small corner lot on East Park Drive in Midland and commissioned Alden B. Dow to design a house for them. Renderings and working drawings for a modest home were presented to the...
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...