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Alden B. Dow Home and Studio Interior Views Mid Century Modern

Imaginatively woven into the natural environment and surrounding pond, the Alden B. Dow Home and Studio elicits you to question, peek around corners and travel on unknown paths. It draws you into rooms of diverging angles, soaring roof lines, brilliant color, abundant natural light, and geometric patterns. The integration of building and site truly exemplify Mr. Dow’s definition of organic architecture as the idea that “…gardens never end and buildings never begin.” Designed and built in a small, conservative, Midwestern town amidst the Great Depression, the Home and Studio challenges your idea of the built environment. The Home and Studio reflects Alden B. Dow’s desire to redefine buildings, merging form and function for the ultimate experience. Experience, enjoy and discover an innovative definition of mid-20th Century modern architecture.

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Dow belived that kids should be encouraged to play as much as possible. The lower level of the house is all about color and joy, though notice the nice niches created in the back wall by simply removing a unit block.
Dow belived that kids should be encouraged to play as much as possible. The lower level of the house is all about color and joy, though notice the nice niches created in the back wall by simply removing a unit block.
This is the drafting room in the Dow studio. Note the red accents (they'll show up again later) and the long line of desks. The ceiling is pretty low, but the wall of windows is wonderful. The room is set up with drawings by kids who come to the Dow studio as part of an architectural summer camp the studio hosts.
This is the drafting room in the Dow studio. Note the red accents (they'll show up again later) and the long line of desks. The ceiling is pretty low, but the wall of windows is wonderful. The room is set up with drawings by kids who come to the Dow studio as part of an architectural summer camp the studio hosts.
Dow’s office is the transition point between the studio and the residence he shared with his wife, Vada, and their three children. Nestled down a short flight of steps, the room is an energetic and idiosyncratic study of contrasts, from the round lines of the George Nelson Saucer pendant and the strung gourds to the sharp, geometric planes of the layered ceiling.
Dow’s office is the transition point between the studio and the residence he shared with his wife, Vada, and their three children. Nestled down a short flight of steps, the room is an energetic and idiosyncratic study of contrasts, from the round lines of the George Nelson Saucer pendant and the strung gourds to the sharp, geometric planes of the layered ceiling.
The drafting room is austere, though well lit and full of impressive joinery. Photo by: Balthazar Korab
The drafting room is austere, though well lit and full of impressive joinery. Photo by: Balthazar Korab
Alden B. Dow and his wife Vada at home in the 1930s.
Alden B. Dow and his wife Vada at home in the 1930s.
The Dows loved to host and their massive living and dining room had ample space for parties. Decor came largely from Dow's designs and the treasures they collected on their travels.
The Dows loved to host and their massive living and dining room had ample space for parties. Decor came largely from Dow's designs and the treasures they collected on their travels.
Dow Chemical put Midland on the map, but architect and local scion Alden B. Dow made it the most modern town in Michigan. Dow’s masterpiece is undoubtedly his home and studio in Midland. Designed in 1933 to be built in stages, the sprawling manse seems to rise out of a pond, its green copper roof and bright-white, geometric form seemingly birthed by the landscape. It’s a nearly perfect evocation of a guiding Dow dictum, “Gardens never end, and buildings never begin.”
Dow Chemical put Midland on the map, but architect and local scion Alden B. Dow made it the most modern town in Michigan. Dow’s masterpiece is undoubtedly his home and studio in Midland. Designed in 1933 to be built in stages, the sprawling manse seems to rise out of a pond, its green copper roof and bright-white, geometric form seemingly birthed by the landscape. It’s a nearly perfect evocation of a guiding Dow dictum, “Gardens never end, and buildings never begin.”