Alden B. Dow

Alden B. Dow (April 10, 1904 – August 20, 1983), an architect based in Midland, Michigan, was renowned for his contributions to the Michigan Modern style. Beginning in the 1930s, he designed more than 70 residences and dozens of churches, schools, civic and art centers, and commercial buildings during his 30+ year career. The Midland Center for the Arts, the 1950s Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (named in honor of his mother), his many contributions to Dow Gardens and his former residence, the Alden Dow House and Studio, are among the numerous examples of his work located in his hometown of Midland, Michigan. He is the son of industrialist Herbert Dow, the founder of the Dow Chemical Company, and his wife, philanthropist Grace A. Dow who in 1936 founded the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation in memory of her husband. Dow is known for his prolific and striking Modernist architectural designs. He served on the board of Dow Chemical Company for most of his adult life.

Biography

Education Alden B. Dow attended Midland Public Schools through high school. He attended the University of Michigan to study engineering in preparation to join his father's chemical manufacturing company. After three years, Dow transferred as a student of architecture at Columbia University, where he graduated in 1931.

That year, he married Vada Bennett, also of Midland. Her father, Earl Bennett, was chairman of the board of directors at the Dow Chemical Company, a major employer in the city. The couple had three children together: Michael Lloyd Dow, Mary Lloyd Dow, and Barbara Alden Dow.

After working for a year and a half with the architectural firm of Frantz and Spence in nearby Saginaw, he and Vada studied with architect Frank Lloyd Wright at his Taliesin studio in Spring Green, Wisconsin, for the summer in 1933.

Early career

Following his brief ("a few months" ) apprenticeship with Frank Lloyd Wright, Dow opened his own studio in 1934 in Midland.

Dow described his own philosophy of design as "Architecture is more than the front face of the building. It is the location of the building. It is the plan of the building. It is the construction of the building. It is the heating and cooling of the building. It is the furnishing of the building. It is the landscaping of the building. It is, in its entirety, the manifestation of wholesome living."

He received the Diplome de Grand Prix at that 1937 Paris International Exposition for best residential design in the world, based on the design of his residence and also for his work on the John Whitman residence.

In 1941, Dow officially incorporated his business as Alden B. Dow, Inc. The following year, Dow was tasked with designing a company town in Texas for workers at his father's Dow Chemical Company's site near Freeport, Texas. With his brother Willard and Dow Chemical Company executive A.P. Beutel, Dow chose a site west of Freeport that was formerly the site of the Abner Jackson Plantation. Dow designed the town, which they named Lake Jackson, to hold 5,000 people. The residential layout was notable for its lack of straight streets; Dow felt that winding roads would provide "something of a surprise around each turn." The streets were given whimsical names, including the intersecting "This Way" and "That Way" as well as "Circle Way," "Winding Way," and "Any Way." Dow also provided the six designs used to build different models of houses within the newly created town. The first residents moved in at the end of 1943.

As time passed, Dow began to delve into other types of architecture, designing many commercial and community buildings, especially in and around his hometown of Midland.

Selected works

Midland Midland Country Club (1930), Midland, Michigan (demolished 2010) Residential Architecture of Alden B. Dow in Midland, Michigan Multiple Property Submission, a National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Submission consisting of the following 13 houses built in Midland, Michigan, from 1933 to 1938: Earl Stein House (1933), 209 Revere, Midland, Michigan F.W. Lewis House (1934), 2913 Manor, Midland, Michigan Joseph A. Cavanagh House (1934), 415 W. Main, Midland, Michigan Sheldon Heath House (1934), 1505 W. St. Andrews, Midland, Michigan Alden Hanson House (1935), 1605 W. St. Andrews, Midland, Michigan John S. Whitman House (1935), 2407 Manor, Midland, Michigan Alden Dow House and Studio (1936), 315 Post St., Midland, Michigan, a National Historic Landmark Charles MacCallum House (1936), 1227 W. Sugnet, Midland, Michigan Howard Ball House (1935), 1411 W. St. Andrews, Midland, Michigan Oscar C. Diehl House (1935), 919 E. Park, Midland, Michigan George Greene House (1936), 1115 W. Sugnet, Midland, Michigan Donald L. Conner House (1936), 2705 Manor, Midland, Michigan James T. Pardee House (1936), 812 W. Main St., Midland, Michigan Dow Chemical Company Administrative Building (1937), also known as Dow Chemical Main Office, Midland, Michigan Midland Central Park Bandshell (1938), Midland, Michigan Midland Central Park Pool and Bathhouse (1938), Midland, Michigan (demolished 2008) Parents' and Children's Schoolhouse (1938), 1505 Crane Ct., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Calvin A. and Alta Koch Campbell House (1939), 1210 W. Park Dr., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Reinke House (1941), 33 Lexington Court, Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Mr. and Mrs Frank Boonstra House (1941), 1401 Helen St., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Donald and Louise Clark Irish House (1941), 1801 W. Sugnet Rd., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Mr. and Mrs. Louis P. Butenschoen House (1941), 1212 Helen St., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Charles and Mary Kempf Penhaligen House (1941), 1203 W. Sugnet Rd., Midland, Michigan, NRHP-listed Midland Hospital (1943), later known as MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland, built around a courtyard garden, Midland, Michigan Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (1953), Midland, Michigan (renovated 2013) Herbert Henry Dow II Residence (1953) Midland Community Center (1953), Midland, Michigan (demolished 2024) Midland Skating Rink (1954), Midland, Michigan (demolished 2006) Fire Station No. 1 (1955), Midland, Michigan Midland County Courthouse Jail and Office addition (1955), 301 West Main Street, Midland, Michigan St. John's Lutheran Church (1955), 505 East Carpenter Street, Midland, Michigan Smith's Flowers & Gifts (1955), 2909 Ashman Street, Midland, Michigan King's Daughters Home (1956), Midland, Michigan Northwood University (1960's) Midland Midland Center for the Arts (1968), Midland, Michigan Cleveland Manor I (1968), 2200 Cleveland Avenue Senior/low-income 105-unit Housing Complex Downtown Farmers Market (1973), Midland, Michigan Dow Gardens Master Plan (1974), Midland, Michigan Lower Pond Bridge and Upper Pond Bridge (1975), Midland, Michigan Visitor Center (1976), Midland, Michigan Sun Bridge (1979), Midland, Michigan Chemical Bank and Trust Company, Midland, Michigan Dow Center Complex, Midland, Michigan First United Methodist Church, Midland, Michigan

Other Tri-Cities (along with Midland) Bay City, Bay County War Memorial Bay City, Thomas and Marjorie Defoe House (1949) Bay City, Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church (1956) Bay City, People's National Bank and Trust Company (1962) Saginaw, Mary Dow House (1936)

Ann Arbor

Harry and Margaret Towsley House (1932), Ann Arbor, Michigan, built for Dow's sister and her husband. It was the "first residence in the country designed with an attached garage facing the street." University of Michigan Women's Swimming Pool, Margaret Bell Building (1950), Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor Public Library (1955 or 1956), Ann Arbor, Michigan University of Michigan Botanical Gardens (1958), Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor Community Center (1958), Ann Arbor, Michigan Dunbar Community Center (1958), Ann Arbor, Michigan Leonard Service Station (1960), Ann Arbor, Michigan Institute for Social Research (1960), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor City Hall (1960), also known as Guy C. Larcom, Jr. Municipal Building, 301 East Huron Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan Conductron Corporation Offices (1961), Ann Arbor, Michigan University Microfilms Building (1963), Ann Arbor, Michigan Fleming Administration Building (1964), Ann Arbor, Michigan (demolished 2022) he University of Michigan's central administration building, designed in 1964 by Michigan's architect laureate Alden Dow, is named the . The board of regents approved an infrastructure plan in 2016 that will result in the demolition of the Fleming Building, but university president Mark Schlissel said the school would find another way to continue commemorating Fleming, whom he called one of his personal heroes. Demolition began in August, 2022. The building was considered functionally obsolescent. University of Michigan Continuing Education Center (1965), Ann Arbor, Michigan Greenhills School (1967), 850 Greenhills Dr., Ann Arbor, Michigan

Bloomfield Hills Gordon Saunders House (1936) Hellenic Orthodox Community Church of St. George (1962), also known as Saint George Greek Orthodox Church, 43816 Woodward Avenue Lynn A. & Ruth M. Townsend House (1963), 1485 Kirkway

Kalamazoo Paul & Josephine C. Rood House (1937) Kalamazoo Christian Church (1957) Kalamazoo Nature Center (1961) Kalamazoo Valley Community College (1966)

Elsewhere Michigan Algonac, LeRoy Smith House (1940), 9503 Frank St., NRHP-listed Dearborn, First Presbyterian Church (1964) Detroit, Wayne State University Center Building (1963) Detroit, Wayne State University Physical Education & Recreation Building (1961) East Lansing, Bachman House (1936) East Lansing, Eastminster Presbyterian Church (1961) East Grand Rapids, Miner Keeler residence, 2525 Indian Trl SE (1958) Grosse Pointe Farms 96 Handy RD (1939/1940) Clark & Mary Wells House Grosse Pointe Park, Pryor House (1936) Mount Pleasant, Brown House (1937) Muskegon, Muskegon Community College (1965) Port Huron, Henry McMorran Auditorium and Sports Arena (1961) Roscommon, Michigan, Earl Bennett Cottage (1936), Benmark's Club

Other states Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix Civic Center and Art Museum (1954), with Blaine Drake Elkhart, Indiana, William and Helen Koerting House (1936) Durham, North Carolina, Douglas M. and Grace Knight House (1966) Lake Jackson, Texas, Alden B. Dow Office and Lake Jackson City Hall, 101 S. Parking Place, NRHP-listed They are a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and their office is in Midland. As of 2023, they had assets of approximately $6 million, yearly expenditures of $1.15 million and revenue of $1.7 million. Trustees of the Foundation are all descendants of Alden & Vada.

The Alden and Vada Dow Creativity Foundation was founded in 1986 after Alden's death by Vada and her children. The stated mission is to "preserve, share and encourage exploration of the philosophies of Alden B. Dow"

There are two entities that award grants: the Vada B. Dow Charitable Unitrust supports the creativity foundation; the Alden and Vada Dow Fund underwrites the majority of activity.

Awards Diplome de Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition of 1937 for best residential design in the world, based on his own home and design studio and also the John Whitman residence Received honorary degrees from Albion College, Hillsdale College, Michigan State University, Northwood University and the University of Michigan. In 1957 became a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Awarded The Michigan Society of Architects Gold Medal for 1960. The Northwood University Alden B. Dow Creativity Center was founded in 1978 to honor and perpetuate his commitment to quality and innovation. First recipient of the Frank Lloyd Wright Creativity Award in 1982. In 1983 named Architect Laureate of his home state of Michigan. The Alden B. Dow Museum of Science & Art in Midland, Michigan is named in his honor.