Alden B Dow

Education

Alden B. Dow attended the 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 worked 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 Alden Dow worked 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." Frank Lloyd Wright's philosophy.

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.

Growth

In 1963 he changed the business name to Alden B. Dow Associates, Inc., to reflect taking on more employees to accommodate growth. Dow designed the Fleming Administration Building at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, completed in 1968. The building houses the offices of the university's president. Its narrow windows (all located above the first floor) and fortress-like exterior led to a campus rumor that it was designed in the wake of the student activism of the 1960s to be riot-proof. Dow was purportedly offended by those rumors, insisting that the small windows were designed to be energy efficient.

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. Dow relinquished the chairmanship of his company in 1974 to Jim Howell.

In 1983 Dow was named the architect laureate of Michigan, an achievement in his 50-year career. He died shortly after, on August 20, 1983. That title has not been bestowed on anyone since Dow.

The company name was changed to Dow, Howell & Gilmore Associates Inc. after his death. It is owned by its employees.

Six years later, in 1989, Dow's residence was designated as a National Historic Landmark, both for its own architectural significance and the contributions of his career to national American architecture.

Midland

First United Methodist Church, Midland, Michigan

Other Tri-Cities (along with Midland)

Ann Arbor

Bloomfield Hills

Kalamazoo

Michigan

Other states

Awards