Alden B. Dow
Dow, the son of Herbert Dow, founder of the Dow Chemical Company, spent most of his life in Midland, Michigan. Trained at the University of Michigan and the Columbia School of Architecture, Dow designed 138 buildings during his career, nearly all of them in Midland. A childhood trip to Japan “exposed Dow to two of his greatest influences as an architect: the exacting simplicity of Japanese design and the striking modernism of Frank Lloyd Wright.”* Dow left his mark on Ann Arbor during the middle part of the twentieth century, designing 18 public, private and university structures, including the City Hall and U of M’s Fleming Administration and ISR buildings. According to relatives, Dow was a quiet and creative man, and his designs reflected his egalitarian philosophy. In 1983, Dow was named the Architect Laureate for the state of Michigan, and is to this date the only architect to receive the honor.
*Shackman, Grace. “Alden Dow’s Ann Arbor” Ann Arbor Observed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006, pp. 246.