The Oscar C. Diehl House is a single-family home located at 919 East Park Drive in

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1989.

History

Oscar C. Diehl was a salesman for the

Dow Chemical Company The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastic ...

. He and his wife hired architect Alden B. Dow to design this building in 1935. The house was constructed by Bay City Stone Company at a cost of $13,020, and was substantially completed the same year. In the late 1970s, the rear half of the original garage was converted into a spare bedroom.

Description

The Oscar C. Diehl House is a long, L-shaped brick house with low-pitched hip roofs, with features reminiscent of the

Prairie style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hip roof, hipped roofs with broad Overhang (architecture), ove ...

. It is sited on a small corner lot. One leg of the building contains the main living area and has two levels. The other leg, which is long and narrow, contains the garage. The wings are joined with a large chimney, near which is the main entrance to the house. The wall of the garage wing is unbroken brick, while the living quarters are fronted with large windows with a diamond pattern leaded glass.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Midland County, Michigan International style architecture in Michigan Buildings and structures completed in 1935 Alden B. Dow buildings Midland, Michigan