Location: Bay City, Michigan Architect: Alden B. Dow Thomas Defoe was the president of Defoe Shipbuilding, a major manufacturer of sea-going vessels of every description, from fishing skiffs and pleasure crafts to Navy torpedo chasers and palatial yachts. He...
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...
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...
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....