{"id":1475,"date":"2024-04-26T20:11:49","date_gmt":"2024-04-26T20:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/?p=1475"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:48:36","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T16:48:36","slug":"bachman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/bachman\/","title":{"rendered":"Charles W. Bachman House, 929 Roxburgh (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Charles W. Bachman House, March 1992. Photo by Kevin S. Forsyth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Coach Charlie Bachman. Image source: Wolverine<\/em> (1939), p. 248.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charles W. Bachman Jr (1892\u20131985) was a collegiate football coach whose noteworthy thirty-five-year career included stints at Northwestern, Kansas State, Florida, Michigan State, and Hillsdale. As head coach at Michigan State College from 1933 to 1946, he amassed a record of 70\u201334\u201310. Famously, he outfitted his Spartans in gold and black uniforms instead of the official school colors of green and white. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Bachman\u2019s son Charles W. Bachman III (1924\u20132017, ELHS \u201943, M.S.C. \u201948) was a computer scientist and industrial software engineer who was a pioneering developer of database management systems. His \u201cBachman Diagrams\u201d are ubiquitous today in database design, and during his lifetime he received numerous awards for his contributions to the science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charles Bachman Jr commissioned this house in 1936 from Midland-based architect Alden B. Dow (1904\u20131983) and it was completed the following year. It is an excellent example of the International Modern style, and is significant for being Dow\u2019s only 1930s residential work in the greater Lansing area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, mature plantings obscure much of the street view of the Bachman house. This early, undated photo shows off the house\u2019s bold geometry and prominent use of Unit Blocks. Image source: Alden B. Dow Home & Studio<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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U.S. Patent \u2116 2,104,585, awarded to Alden B. Dow and Robert Goodall in 1938.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The square geometric patterns on several walls are not merely decorative, they are evidence that this house was constructed using Dow\u2019s patented \u201cUnit Blocks,\u201d an ingenious system of interlocking cinder blocks whose unique shapes contribute to the structural integrity of the walls. The blocks could also be considered a form of early recycling since they were made from waste material generated by the furnaces of the Dow Chemical Company\u2014founded in Midland by Alden\u2019s father, Herbert Henry Dow.1<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bachman house is one of only thirteen homes (most of them in the Midland area) built using Unit Blocks between 1934 and 1940, after which Dow moved on to other building materials. He was an innovative architect and quite prolific, designing more than 560 projects during a fifty-year career\u2014including Eastminster Presbyterian Church on Abbot Road in 1959. In his final year, Alden B. Dow was named architect laureate of the State of Michigan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Charles W. Bachman III receives the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation\u2019s highest honor for technological achievement, from President Obama in 2012. Photo by Pete Souza.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The connection between the Bachman and Dow families goes further. After earning a master\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950, Charles Bachman III went to work for Dow Chemical in Midland. During the decade he worked there, Charles and his family lived at 1125 East Haley Street, designed by Alden Dow as \u201cSmall House \u2116 100,\u201d a prototype of low-cost housing for veterans returning from World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Charles W. Bachman House is an East Lansing Landmark Structure<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

  1. “Alden Dow \u2013 Innovator.” abdow.org<\/a> \u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Charles W. Bachman Jr (1892\u20131985) was a collegiate football coach whose noteworthy thirty-five-year career included stints at Northwestern, Kansas State, Florida, Michigan State, and Hillsdale. As head coach at Michigan State College from 1933 to 1946, he amassed a record of 70\u201334\u201310. Famously, he outfitted his Spartans in gold and black uniforms instead of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"\\\"Alden Dow \u2013 Innovator.\\\" abdow.org<\/a>\",\"id\":\"52afc9dd-c7d1-4b59-8bd5-13f39001ef12\"}]"},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-landmark-structures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1475"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5316,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1475\/revisions\/5316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevinforsyth.net\/ELMAC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}