Greene, Charles 1868-1957

GREENE, CHARLES 1868-1957

Architect

Craftsmanship

Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene were the foremost American proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement. The movement, which had started in the middle of the nineteenth century in England, promoted the handcrafting of household items out of wood, metals, and textiles. The Greene brothers were deeply committed to the use of craftsmanship in architecture and furniture design during their twenty-one-year joint architectural practice in Pasadena, California. They were also influenced by Japanese domestic architecture and the wooden houses of Switzerland. These interests came together in their exquisite bungalows.

Early Life and Training

Born in Cincinnati in 1868 and 1870, respectively, Charles and Henry Greene grew up in Saint Louis. They attended a high school sponsored by Washington University, where they received training in handcraftsmanship. From 1888 to 1891 they were trained in the Beaux Arts tradition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They established their firm, Greene and Greene, in Pasadena in 1893.

The Bungalow Style

By the 1900s the Greenes' practice was flourishing. Their house designs increasingly took on an open, Japanese feeling that harmonized with the surrounding environment. They also became known for their use of wood, particularly redwood. Their most important homes in the 1900s were designed for L. A. Robinson (1906), Robert R. Blacker (1907), and David B. Gamble (1908) in Pasadena; for William R. Thorsen (1908) in Berkeley; and for Charles M. Pratt (1909) in Ojai, California. These homes, with their large, over-hanging roofs; open windows; and horizontal lines reflected the mature vision of the brothers. They conceived of their homes as total environments that included interiors and exteriors, and they often designed gardens and furniture for their clients. Their designs for the Gamble house included furniture, carpets, lighting fixtures, silver-ware, and linens.

Obscurity

By 1914 the Greene brothers no longer shared the same vision of architecture, and, though they remained close personally, they dissolved their partnership. Charles, who had become interested in philosophy and art, moved to Carmel, California, where he designed a few houses in the Mission Style and wrote about oriental philosophy. Henry stayed in Pasadena, where he designed stucco houses with tile roofs that had little in common with his earlier work with his brother. Both brothers slipped into obscurity.

Revival

After World War II a renewed interest in wood architecture, led by architects in California and the Pacific Northwest, reawakened appreciation for the work of the Greene brothers, who by then had retired. They received praise and prizes from their peers for their accomplishments. Henry Greene died in October 1954; Charles in June 1957.

Source:

Randell Makinson, Greene and Greene: Architecture as Fine Art (Salt Lake City, Utah: Peregrine Smith, 1977).