Northwood University as a physical place in Midland began with a Master Plan from the drawing board of Alden B. Dow in 1961. His firm was commissioned to get the initial buildings ready for students in just under six months. Over the course of the following year,...
The Macauley Whiting residence was designed in 1947 for Macauley and Helen Dow Whiting. Mrs. Whiting was the niece of Alden B. Dow, the architect of the home. Mr. Whiting worked for the Dow Chemical Company, becoming Manager of the Midland Division and later,...
In a letter written to Alden B. Dow in November 1950, C. S. Comey asked for a home that was “cozy, not too large, as there are but two of us, not so young.” He wanted ease and economy of maintenance, cheerfulness and lightness, and “a large bedroom on the lake...
In the spring of 1935, Midland physician Dr. Charles MacCallum 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 rendering showed a low, one-story design placed on the crest...
The Millard and Mary Pryor Residence was designed by Alden B. Dow in early 1937 for a new subdivision in Grosse Pointe Park, east of Detroit. The Pryor’s requirements for a family that included twin boys and a maid were: bedrooms for parents, boys, guest, and...
Arnold R. Gabel was a chemist for the Dow Chemical Company in the Physical Research, Cellulose, Biochemical Research, and Main Analytical Laboratories. He was awarded several patents during his years with the company and developed a method of producing ethyl...
Alden B. Dow first explored the use of sandwich panels in the construction of low-cost houses in 1946. The panels of Styrofoam core glued to plywood facings were developed in conjunction with a Dow Chemical Company product engineer in the summer of 1950. ...
Called an “outdoor museum for houses” by the journal Architectural Record, the Homestyle Center was a project conceived by Detroit realtor Jason Honigman and promoted by Arleigh Hitchcock, an architect and sales manager for the Herman Miller Furniture Company. ...
The first church designed by Alden B. Dow was the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1941. The 275 members approached the architect with the idea that in building their place of worship one should choose the natural and the simple, while...
A new synthetic product developed by the Dow Chemical Company in the late 1930s, ethyl cellulose or Ethocel, captured the imagination of Alden B. Dow for its potential as a building material. While initially developed for use in industry, the architect tested its...
Few architects have the opportunity to design a whole community, but Alden B. Dow had just such a unique opportunity in 1941 in Lake Jackson, Texas. Dow Chemical was expanding its plant in Freeport and the new town was to be built nearby for its employees. In the...
Alden B. Dow designed this modest, one-story home in 1937 for the Reverend and Mrs. A. C. Barclay, the grandparents of his wife, Vada Bennett Dow. There are no specifications and no signed contract in the job files, but an itemized account statement shows that the...
