PVP’s Facts about Famous Grand Rapids Residents

MATHIAS ALTEN

If you love the work of Mathias Alten, then please check out the wonderful George and Barbara Gordon Gallery on the GVSU Pew Campus, a gallery dedicated to the work of American Impressionist painter, Mathias Alten. It is open free to the public on Friday and Saturday afternoons.  Check out the Gallery for more information.

When Mathias Alten was about 35 years old he bought this house (as viewed today, 1/22,2026 on a snowy Grand Rapids day.

1203 Hope in Eastown. The House of the Mathias Alten family in 1912.

The Alten Family Home at 1593 E. Fulton, as it was photographed in 1936 during the WPA City Tax Survey.

The Abrams Pike House on Fulton became the Grand Rapids Art Gallery in the 1920s. At that time, the Gallery hired Mathias Alten to paint “Grand Rapids Art Gallery” in beautiful lettering on the triangular pediment above the massive columns. He later repainted it as the “Grand Rapids Art Gallery.” The current building owners found the painting while remodeling the building, and grandaughter, Anita Gilleo identified it as the original sign.