Click above images to enlarge Dow, Alden B., House and Studio 315Post Street, Midland - Midland County Other Names Alden Dow Home and Studio Property Type cement block house Historic Use COMMERCE/TRADE/professional DOMESTIC/single dwelling Current Use COMMERCE/TRADE/professional DOMESTIC/single dwelling Style Modern Movement Architect/Builder Alden B. Dow Significant Person Alden B. Dow Narrative Description Dow's home and studio were constructed over a period of time after he studied at Taliesin with Frank Lloyd Wright. Begun in 1933, this low-lying, wing-like house was put together with not only a careful respect for nature but was constructed on the geometrical principles of Dow's Unit Blocks. Dow developed his Unit Blocks which he patented in 1936 as a way of constructing walls and openings in satisfying alignment and of creating textural interest. The site and landscaping are an integral part of the complex. Most spectacular is the sunken conference room, the floor of which is eighteen inches below the surface of an artificial pond created by damming several streams on Alden Dow's father's land in the western part of Midland. The long, low roof rises from the water to the ell, where, in 1935 and 1936, the studio was built. This wing ends on the north with a garage shop and heating plant and was partly sunk into the ground with a large triangular window cut into the northeast side of an elaborately folded roof. The house was built to join the studio in 1940. Statement of Significance The architecture of Alden B. Dow received national attention from his very early career through to his late period, partly because he was closely associated with Frank Lloyd Wright, although a number of his designs are more closely allied with European Modernism. Dow was clearly placed between the two movements. He did not have the struggle to establish himself financially that Sullivan and Wright had-- he was free of the necessity to compromise and he had the luxury of pursuing his own aesthetic. The body of his work is of rare quality and completeness and remains highly original among the contending forces of 20th-century architecture. The house and studio are, however, his most clearly acknowledged masterpiece. The green and white house and studio, its roofs overhanging a pond with rushes and lilies, is visual poetry using contrasting colors and planes that flow together like the water visible from many windows. The sunken conference room is one of the most elegant rooms in the complex. Dow won the Grand Prix at the Paris Exposition in 1937 for this design. Period of Significance 1934-1950 Registry Type(s) 06/29/1989 National Historic Landmark listed 06/29/1989 National Register listed Site ID# P67