Mathias Alten Home, Grand Rapids

The Mathias J. Alten House, located on East Fulton Street in Grand Rapids, is a historic single-family home that once belonged to the renowned German-American impressionist painter Mathias Alten. The house was Alten’s residence from 1914 until his passing in 1938 and was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.

The structure is a classic two-story American Foursquare home, featuring a low-pitched hip roof adorned with three wide-hipped dormers. It is built on an uncoursed granite foundation and includes a single-story kitchen wing at the rear with a gable roof. The front facade is defined by a full-width porch resting on a granite foundation, complete with wooden railings and spindles. Concrete piers, topped with tapered cylindrical wooden Tuscan columns, provide additional support, while concrete steps lead up to a wooden front door flanked by sidelights. Most windows in the house are traditional wood-framed, double-hung single-glazed units, reflective of the period’s architectural style.

The Alten House stands on land that was originally a farm, established in 1835. By 1904, Albert and Emily Stacey owned the property and built the current Foursquare house in 1907. Mathias Alten purchased it in 1914, moving in with his family. He removed the old farmhouse but kept a barn until the 1920s and added a garage and a small cottage for his daughters. Alten paid off the land by 1927 and later sold portions of it. During the Great Depression, he turned part of the house into a studio. He lived and worked there until he died in 1938.

The property passed several owners until Alten’s granddaughter purchased it in 2002, preserving its legacy as an important landmark in Grand Rapids’ cultural and artistic history.