Alden B. Dow
"The spirit of any really creative idea originates in the mind of the leader. This is the ideation 'frontier' which is the fountainhead of the idea's structure and aesthetic quality. Strong leadership is essential and linked with the indispensability of imagination. The leader must see beyond today to give birth to a viable idea."

Photograph courtesy of the Alden B. Dow Archives.

The Macauley Whiting Residence was designed in 1947 for Macauley and Helen Dow Whiting.  Mrs. Whiting was the granddaughter of Herbert and Grace Dow and the daughter of Willard and Martha Pratt Dow.  Mrs. Whiting was also the niece of Alden B. Dow, the architect for the house.

Macauley Whiting worked for The Dow Chemical Company. He and Helen moved from Connecticut in 1947, when Macauley accepted his position with the company. Mac would be part of the new guard working in the company from the late 1940s through the early 1960s.  During this period, retirements and untimely deaths caused a number of changes in senior management positions for the Midland Division after the sudden death of William Schuette Sr. and, later, Director of Overseas Operations.

The land Helen and Mac chose as the site for their new home was a five acre parcel on the very edge of town -  land that was originally used as a cow pasture.  The contour of the land supported many mature hardwood trees and a graceful roll down to a creek.  Alden Dow would consider those features when he sited the house on the land.  The front of the house follows the horizontal plane of the land and the mature trees from a supportive backdrop for the design.  The rear elevation, much of which is glass, opens the house up to the landscape.  Retaining walls, terraces, and graduated stairs follow the contour of the landscape and lead you down to the meandering creek.

Alden Dow initially designed the home to accommodate Mac and Helen and their two children at the time.  Over the 21 years that they lived in the residence, they would expand their family to six children, Susan, Martha, Mary, Henry, Macauley, Jr., and the house would undergo six additions or modifications.

1947:  The original house design was one story and included four bedrooms and three bathrooms, a dressing room, living room, dining room, porch, kitchen, pantry, one car garage and terrace.  The basement was functional, and included a recreation room for the children.

The original house essentially had a two-wing formation.  Two rectangles were united by the living room and occupied the central position as the other rooms pivot around it.  One wing included the garage, entrance and foyer, two children’s bedrooms, kitchen, pantry, porch, dining room and Master bedroom.

1949: A detached apartment was added to the residence for Helen’s brother, Herbert H. Dow II, after their father and mother died in a plane crash in March 1949.  Their parents were traveling to MIT to a mid-century convocation.  Winston Churchill was the guest speaker and Herbert Dow II was attending MIT at the time.  The apartment would accommodate her brother when he was in Midland for school breaks and consisted of a living room, bedroom and bathroom.

1951: As the Whiting family grew, an additional two bedrooms and sitting area were added that connected the house and the apartment.  The house now consists of six bedrooms and four bathrooms.

1955:  The garage portion of the apartment was modified to accommodate an additional bedroom, bathroom and study.  However, this space would be modified yet again to become a study for Mac Whiting and to become part of a new master bedroom space in 1961.

1961: The living room space in the original apartment was modified into a new master bedroom space.  Part of the original master bedroom became part of a larger living room area.  Also, a pool was added and terrace modifications took place.

1963: The hallway outside the original two children’s bedroom was expanded into a gallery walk space.

In the early 1970s, Macauley and Helen Whiting moved from Midland to Idaho. The Whiting's donated the property and house to the City of Midland.  Several years ago, the Herbert and Grace Dow Foundation acquired the property and have leased the space to Michigan Molecular Institute as a research facility, the Michigan State University College of Engineering, and currently, it houses the Northwood University Alden B. Dow Creativity Center. 

This one story design has a strong horizontal element accentuated by the clerestory windows and low ceiling heights – seven feet in the bedroom areas.  Also, the Chicago Common light pink bricks are laid in a horizontal pattern that further accentuates the horizontal nature of the building.  The exterior walls are unusual because of their constructions – cinder block in the middle with the Chicago Common brick on either side.

The wood in the front door were collected by the Whiting’s in their travels throughout the world.  The door was designed for them by Alden Dow and constructed in the workshop at the architectural studio by Ted Gwizdala, Mr. Dow’s master woodworker.  Tall narrow windows on each side of the door framed and really set off the unique design of the door.

The original roof for the structure was tar and gravel.