Greene and Greene was an

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th Century American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s. Active primarily in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, their houses and larger-scale

ultimate bungalow An ultimate bungalow is a large and detailed American Craftsman-style home, based on the bungalow form. Overview The ultimate bungalow style is associated with such California architects as Greene and Greene, Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan. ...

s are prime exemplars of the

American Arts and Crafts Movement American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

Biographies

Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene were born in Brighton, Ohio, in 1868 and 1870, respectively. They grew up primarily in St. Louis, Missouri, and on their mother's family farm in

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

while their father attended medical school. As teenagers, the brothers studied at the Manual Training School of

Washington University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

in St. Louis, where they studied metal- and woodworking and graduated in 1887-1888. Their father, a practicing

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths, believe that a substance that causes symptoms of a dise ...

physician by this time, was very concerned with the need for sunlight and circulating fresh air; the importance of these elements was to become one of the signatures of the brothers' work. Charles and Henry each received a "certificate for completion of partial course", a special two-year program at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

's School of

Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

, in 1891. They studied classical building styles, intending at that time only to gain certification for apprenticeships with architecture and construction firms upon graduation. After MIT in spring 1890, Charles apprenticed first with the firm of Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul; but after four and a half months, moved to the office of

R. Clipston Sturgis Richard Clipston Sturgis (1860-1951), generally known as R. Clipston Sturgis, was an American architect based in Boston, Massachusetts. Life and career Richard Clipston Sturgis was born December 24, 1860, in Boston, Massachusetts to Russell and ...

. By March 1891, he had moved again to work with

Herbert Langford Warren Herbert Langford Warren (29 March 1857 – 27 June 1917) was an architect who practiced in New England. He is noted for his involvement in the American Arts and Crafts movement, and as the founder of the School of Architecture at Harvard Univer ...

; and by the following November, he had changed again to the firm of

Winslow and Wetherell Bradlee, Winslow & Wetherell (1872-1888) was an architecture firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Its principals were Nathaniel Jeremiah Bradlee (1829-1888), Walter Thacher Winslow (1843-1909) and George Homans Wetherell (1854-1930). Most of the firm ...

. He would stay there until the two brothers departed to join their parents in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...

. Henry apprenticed first with the firm of Chamberlin & Austin and then briefly went to work with

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was a successful architecture firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, operating between 1886 and 1915, with extensive commissions in monumental civic, religious, and collegiate architecture in the spirit and style of Henry ...

. All the firms the brothers worked for were located in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Massachusetts. In 1893 their parents requested that the sons move to Pasadena, where they had moved a year before. The brothers agreed and, while traveling by train from Boston, they stopped at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

in Chicago and saw a few examples of

Japanese architecture has been typified by wooden structures, elevated slightly off the ground, with tiled or thatched roofs. Sliding doors (''fusuma'') and other traditional partitions were used in place of walls, allowing the internal configuration of a space to ...

. This experience made a lasting impression on both of them, according to a late-in-life interview with Henry. There was actually very little Japanese influence upon their work until after Charles visited the 1904

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...

in St. Louis. In 1901 Charles Greene married Alice Gordon White, and they honeymooned in Europe and her native England.

Practice

The architectural firm of Greene and Greene was established in Pasadena in January 1894, eventually culminating with the designs of their "

s", such as the 1908 Gamble House in Pasadena, generally considered one of the finest examples of residential architecture in the United States. Two other landmark ultimate bungalows were the

Robert R. Blacker House The Robert Roe Blacker House, often referred to as the Blacker House or Robert R. Blacker House, is a residence in Pasadena, California, United States, which is now on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1907 for Robe ...

in Pasadena and the

Thorsen House The William R. Thorsen House, often referred to as the Thorsen House, is a historic residence in Berkeley, California. Built in 1909 for William and Caroline Thorsen, it is one of the last of four standing ultimate bungalows designed by Henry an ...

. Such ultimate bungalows were completely custom affairs, where the vast majority of elements—light fixtures, furniture, even woven

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

—were created for specific spaces in the home. After 1901 the firm began developing the distinctive stylistic elements that finally came together as a cohesive whole in their grand works of 1907-1909. The Greenes developed a personal idiom within the

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

aesthetic, receiving commissions to design furnishings for their houses. Charles' sketches for the 1903 Mary Darling house were published in England in ''Academy Architecture'' the same year, representing the first foreign publication of the firm's work. In 1905 the Greenes began an association with Peter Hall as the primary contractor for their major commissions, and from 1907 with his brother John Hall, who ran a

millwork Millwork is historically any wood mill produced decorative materials used in building construction. Stock profiled and patterned millwork building components fabricated by milling at a planing mill can usually be installed with minimal alter ...

shop producing their decorative arts and furniture designs. In 1911, the Greene's worked on one of their largest designs, the Mortimer Fleishhacker House and estate in

Woodside Woodside may refer to: Places and buildings Australia * Woodside, South Australia, a town * Woodside, Victoria, a town Canada * Woodside National Historic Site, the boyhood home of William Lyon Mackenzie King *Woodside, Nova Scotia, a neighbo ...

, California.

A structural explosion

The structure of the Greene & Greene house is essential not only to the immense feeling of security that such an overly-supported structure brings, but also accentuates the importance of the Arts and Crafts fundamentals in the Greene & Greene style. The visual importance of the aesthetic nature of the joints, pegs, and complex wood-work symbolizes the structure of the house, and coincides with the principles taught in the Manual Training School of their youth. The structure of the house is externalized, or exploded, rather than hidden in decoration. Each element of the structure asserts itself. This extravagance of support takes its origins from the elaborate

joinery Joinery is a part of woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood, engineered lumber, or synthetic substitutes (such as laminate), to produce more complex items. Some woodworking joints employ mechanical fasteners, bindings, or adhesives, ...

and framing of traditional Japanese architecture.

Obscurity and rediscovery

The Greenes took on few commercial projects. Their attention to detail would not have been possible in a larger firm, or one that focused on commercial buildings as well as residential. The Greenes repeatedly turned down offers to construct buildings in downtown Los Angeles. The Greene brothers were masters in their area of domestic concentration for which, until the year of 1948, they received little acclaim. In 1948 they received citations from the Pasadena Chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

and from the national body in 1952 for creating a “new and native architecture.” In 1960, they were among the modern architects included in the book ''Five California Architects'' by

Esther McCoy Esther McCoy (November 18, 1904 in Horatio, Arkansas – December 30, 1989) was an American author and architectural historian who was instrumental in bringing the modern architecture of California to the attention of the world. Early life an ...

, where the chapter on the Greenes was written by Randell L. Makinson.

James House

In 1918, businessman D.L. James (father of writer

Daniel Lewis James Daniel Lewis James, (January 14, 1911 – May 18, 1988), was an American writer, best known for his novel, ''Famous All Over Town,'' about Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles. He published the novel under his pseudonym, Danny Santiago, and during mos ...

) commissioned Charles to design a sandstone and granite

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

-style house on a bluff he had bought in

Carmel Highlands, California Carmel Highlands is an unincorporated community in Monterey County, California, United States. It is south of Carmel-by-the-Sea (better known as simply, "Carmel"), at an elevation of 318 feet (97 m). Carmel Highlands is also located just sout ...

overlooking the water. Charles made watercolor sketches and architectural drawings for the house based on

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

Tintagel Castle Tintagel Castle ( kw, Dintagel) is a medieval fortification located on the peninsula of Tintagel Island adjacent to the village of Tintagel (Trevena), North Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The site was possibly occupied in the Romano-British ...

. Greene supervised the construction of the granite house that took five years to complete. The house was later called "Seaward". The house was sold in 1999 to the Searock LLC for $4,590,000 (). In July, 2022 the house was purchased from Searock by actor

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Awar ...

for $40,000,000.

Closure

The firm of Greene & Greene was officially dissolved in 1922 after Charles moved his family north to

Carmel, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and municipal corporation, incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its n ...

in 1916. He build a home and studio on Lincoln Street south of 13th Avenue. Henry remained in Pasadena, doing architecture projects on his own. The

Carmel-by-the-Sea World War I Memorial Arch The Carmel-by-the-Sea World War I Memorial Arch is a World War I memorial designed in 1919 by architect Charles Sumner Greene and located at Ocean Avenue and San Carlos Street center median divider in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. The Memorial ...

was designed by Charles Greene in 1919 and constructed at the intersection of Ocean Avenue and San Carlos Street in Carmel-by-the-Sea. The design generally resembles a bell tower of a California mission, the arch made of stone. A bronze bell was added in 1996 after Greene's death, which is suspended from a timber beam almost certainly carved by Charles Greene. Charles Greene died, at age 89, on June 11, 1957, in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Henry Greene, at age 84, died on October 2, 1954, in Los Angeles, California.

References

Publications

Bosley, Edward. ''Greene and Greene''

''Images of The Gamble House - Masterwork of Greene & Greene''
Jeanette Thomas, Univ. of So. Calif. 1989,
Makinson, Randell. "Greene & Greene: Architecture as a Fine Art" Gibbs Smith, Publisher
Salt Lake City, Utah, 284 pages, 1977
Makinson, Randell L., Heinz, Thomas A.. ''Greene and Greene: Creating a Style''
Gibbs Smith, Publisher, Salt Lake City, Utah 96 pages, 2004
Makinson, Randell L., "Greene & Greene: Furniture and Related Designs"
Gibbs Smith, Publisher, Salt Lake City, Utah, 162 pages, 1979
Makinson, Randell L., Heinz, Thomas A., Pitt, Brad; Greene & Greene: The Blacker House
2000; Gibbs Smith Publisher, Salt Lake City, Utah,132 pages.
Makinson, Randell, L.. "Greene & Greene: The Passion and the Legacy"
Gibbs Smith, Publisher, Salt Lake City, Utah, 232 pages, 1998
Smith, Bruce R. ''Greene & Greene Masterworks''

Smith, Bruce R. & Vertikoff, Alexander. ''Greene & Greene: Master Builders of the American Arts & Crafts Movement''

Thorne-Thomsen, Kathleen, "Greene & Greene for Kids"
Gibbs Smith, Publisher, Salt Lake City, Utah, 112 pages, 2004,

External links

Greene and Greene Digital Archives
at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

.
Greene & Greene Architectural Records and Papers Collection, ca. 1896-ca. 1963

Greene & Greene Biography

Enhanced Google Map of Existing Pasadena Greene & Greene Structures

at the Gamble House website
Charles Sumner Greene Finding Aid at the Online Archive of California
* ttp://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm/search/collection/irhil/searchterm/duncan-irwin%20house/field/title/mode/exact/conn/and/order/nosort Duncan-Irwin House, Pasadena, Californiabr>Irwin-Hilliard Collection

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one ...

Archives & Special Collections
How a Beloved Greene and Greene Hollywood Bungalow Ended up in Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greene And Greene Architecture firms of the United States American Craftsman architects Arts and Crafts architects History of Pasadena, California

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

Architects from Pasadena, California