Alden Dow House and Studio facts for kids
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Alden B. Dow Home and Studio
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| Location | 315 Post St., Midland, Michigan |
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| Area | 27.2 acres (11.0 ha) |
| Built | 1936 |
| Architect | Alden B. Dow |
| NRHP reference No. | 89001167 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 29, 1989 |
| Designated NHL | June 29, 1989 |
The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio is a special house and workplace in Midland, Michigan. It was the home and main project of a famous architect named Alden B. Dow. People consider it one of his best designs. His unique ideas and his connection to another famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, made his work well-known across the country.
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What is the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio?
This building is a combination of Alden B. Dow's house and his architectural studio. It was designed to be both a living space and a creative workspace. It shows off many of his unique ideas about how buildings should look and feel.
Building the Home and Studio
Construction on the first part of the studio started in 1934. This was during the Great Depression, a tough time for many in the United States. However, Midland, Michigan, was doing better because of the Dow Chemical Company. Alden B. Dow's father, Herbert H. Dow, founded this company. This gave Alden many chances to build in Midland.
The first studio was finished in 1935. Work on the second studio began in 1936 and was completed in 1937. This studio was where Alden B. Dow's architecture company worked. It had two rooms for drawing plans and a reception area. There was also a special conference room that was built below the level of a nearby pond. This pond was made by changing the path of a stream on the property. The studio also included a woodshop and offices. Alden's own office was placed between the studio and his home. Today, the old woodshop is a museum with a gift shop.
Dow built his home and studio between 1937 and 1940. You can see the building materials used throughout the house. One special material was his "Unit Blocks," which he patented in 1935.
Special Building Blocks
Alden Dow started exploring block construction after college in 1931. He also spent eight months learning from Frank Lloyd Wright at his studio, Taliesin. Alden Dow and Robert Goodall, one of Wright's assistants, created a special diamond-shaped block. These blocks had a mostly square front and came in 16 different sizes. They called this the Unit Block building system.
Dow used these Unit Blocks to build walls and outdoor terraces. He also used them for decorations, like the stepping stones in the pond around his property. What made these blocks unique was their shape and how strong they were. They were also made from cinder, which was waste material from The Dow Chemical Company furnaces. His father, Herbert Dow, had used similar cinder waste to build "clinker" bridges in their family gardens, which are now Dow Gardens.
Recognition and Public Access
The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio was named a National Historic Landmark in 1989. This means it's a very important historical place in the United States. In 1937, it also won the Paris Prize for Residential Architecture, a big award for house design.
Today, you can visit the house and take tours. It is right next to the beautiful Dow Gardens. In 2014, Traditional Home magazine even listed it as one of "The 25 Best Historic Homes in America."
See also
