You can’t go a day in Chicago without hearing mention of seminal architects Louis Sullivan, Mies van der Rohe, or Frank Lloyd Wright. Or encountering some reference to Daniel Burnham’s famous dictum “Make no little plans.” (Not even lunch plans?) Or stumbling into an impassioned debate about whether to call it the Sears Tower or Willis Tower. (Let’s call the whole thing off.) Our grand architectural past is captured in postcards, etched in stone, seared in memory. It echoes off skyscrapers via the mile-a-minute narration of boat-tour docents.

On a recent visit, Midland was as green as I remembered, and the Home and Studio immediately mesmerizing. The tour began in Dow’s “floating conference room,” a sunken meeting area situated 18 inches below the pond, where sunlight refracted from the water shimmers across a cotton-candy-pink ceiling. From there, the tour winds through the deceptively huge 20,000-square-foot complex, each subsequent room offering up surprises: boldly colored walls and carpets, Bertoia chairs, Calderesque mobiles, a collection of mechanical toys, a small theater, secret passageways Dow designed with his three children in mind, a model train chugging around a track overhead . . .

Though decidedly of this century, Midland’s most high-end accommodations can be found at the H Hotel, which offers an apropos theme—the periodic table of the elements—and overlooks the farmers’ market, the aforementioned Tridge, and the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail, popular with joggers and cyclists. Like many things in Midland, the interior of the hotel, with its white, chicly minimalist decor, is nicer than you’d expect of a town this size (the exterior recalls a hospital, alas). Then you find out it too is owned by the Dow Company—designed as a comfortable place for traveling chemists and businesspeople—and it all makes sense.

Getting there:

Midland is about four and a half hours northeast of Chicago by car. The city is walkable and bikeable, but it’s best to drive, since there’s no public transportation.

Where to eat:

The newly opened Crepes et Ami, which began as a food truck at the farmers’ market and now offers the same sweet and savory crepes at its brick-and-mortar location. crepcatering.com. Cafe Zinc for brunch. The generously sized entrees and house-made pastries hit the spot after a late night at Decker’s Lounge. thehhotel.com/dining/cafe-zinc.

Where to sleep:

Make like the visiting Dow Chemical executives and stay at the nicer-than-it-needs-to-be H Hotel. thehhotel.com.

What to do: