Occupying an entire city block on a busy corner of Main Street in downtown Midland, the First Methodist Church was designed by Alden B. Dow in 1947. “The architecture of this church, he wrote, “is to inspire the concept of growth…growth beyond ourselves, beyond...
Herbert H. Dow II was the grandson of the founder of the Dow Chemical Company. He began a 39-year tenure with the company in 1953 at the age of 25, progressing through a number of positions and eventually becoming Corporate Secretary, Vice President, and member of...
James Duffy was the President of the Port Huron and Detroit Railroad Company, once considered the most profitable railroad per mile of track in the United States. Mr. Duffy also owned one of the most opulent private railroad cars that would have been the envy of...
Alden B. Dow regarded St. John’s Lutheran Church on East Carpenter Street in Midland as one of his most significant religious structures. Designed in 1953, the nave of the church accommodates 600 people with no one in the congregation more than 60 feet away from...
Joseph L. Sherk was the son of Dr. Joseph H. Sherk, the personal physician for Herbert H. Dow and his family. In 1954, Mr. Sherk acquired two lots from Alden B. Dow bordering the golf course of the Midland Country Club and commissioned him to design a home for his...
Mid-Century Modern Midland (MCMM), a project of the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, committed to documenting, preserving and celebrating Midland, Michigan’s architectural heritage, has created a website and mobile app to share an unprecedented collection of over 400...
Dr. Robert Ballmer was a physician with an office on Main Street in Midland, Michigan, but when it came to building a house for his family, he chose a long narrow lot overlooking the golf course of the Midland Country Club, and asked Alden B. Dow to design it. ...
Alden B. Dow’s plans for the residence known as the Dow Chemical Company House 101 are dated June of 1939. No job files exist for the structure, thus its construction date and cost are unknown. Without a named owner at the time the drawings were made, the design...
F. W. Lewis was an accountant for the Dow Chemical Company. The first sketches for his modest house are dated 1933, with construction completed a year later for $2,500. At approximately 900 square feet, it marked the beginning of Alden B. Dow’s abiding interest in the design of low-cost housing.
The idea came to Alden B. Dow as he sat quietly in an auditorium, watching the conductor and musicians performing in concert. He wondered if there might be a way to enhance the enjoyment of a musical performance by adding color, light, and movement to the...
2019 Architecture and Design Summer Camps at The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio.
Out of the Archives: The Rare and Unusual Designs of Alden B. Dow During the months of February, March, and the first half of April, visitors to the Alden B. Dow Home & Studio will have the opportunity to view special thematic displays of seldom-seen drawings...