Greene & Greene Virtual Archives, 1885-1957

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Summary

Title:: Greene & Greene virtual archives,
Dates:: 1885-1957
Creators:: Greene & Greene Virtual Archives
Abstract:: The Greene & Greene Virtual Archives (GGVA) contains images of drawings, sketches, photographs, correspondence, and other historical documents related to the work of the architects Greene & Greene.
Extent:: Total 3,823 images available for viewing on the Internet Avery Fine Arts Library, Columbia University (1822 images); Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley (941 images); The Gamble House/Greene & Greene Archives, University of Southern California (1060 images)
Language:: English.
Preferred citation:: Refer to individual repository finding aids.

Background

Scope and content:

The Greene & Greene Virtual Archives (GGVA) contains digital images of drawings, sketches, photographs, correspondence, and other historical documents related to the lives and work of the architects Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene, founders of the southern California design firm Greene & Greene (active 1894-1922) that is often associated with the finest architecture and craftsmanship of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Recent photographic documentation of the firm's furniture and other decorative arts is presented as part of the GGVA.

The GGVA is organized into three series: Personal Papers, Office Records and Project Records. Series I: Personal Papers includes correspondence with family and friends, art work, certificates, awards and documentation of creative interests including Charles Greene's fictional writing, poetry and essays. It covers the years 1885-1957. Series II: Office Records contains professional correspondence with colleagues in the field and related professions, Greene & Greene office photographs, business correspondence, time sheets and other documents that reflect the daily business of the Greene & Greene firm. It covers the years 1904-1942. Series III: Project Records is the largest part of the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives and contains drawings (both of buildings and furniture), specifications, sketches, photographs and correspondence between the Greenes, clients, vendors and craftspeople. It also contains a selection of documentation of Greene & Greene furniture and decorative art work. It covers the years 1894-1947.

To view images, please refer to the project website: http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/greeneandgreene (please copy and paste web address)

Biographical / historical:

Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene Biography

Charles Sumner Greene was born on October 12, 1868, to Lelia Ariana Mather Greene and Thomas Sumner Greene in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fifteen months later, on January 23, 1870, Henry Mather Greene was born. The family later moved to St. Louis where, as teenagers, Charles and Henry attended Calvin Woodward's Manual Training School of Washington University, which offered a revolutionary curriculum based on the education of the hand as well as the mind. This early training was the primary source of the brothers' focus on tools, materials, and craftsmanship. In 1888, the brothers enrolled in the architectural program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. In 1891, both brothers completed their studies with Certificates of Partial Course, the two-year program followed by most MIT architecture students. They then apprenticed with several of the finest architectural firms in Boston, including those whose principals had been associates of the noted Henry Hobson Richardson.

In 1893, the Greene brothers traveled west to Pasadena to visit their parents, who had moved from St. Louis the previous year, and in the fall of 1894, they opened their architectural practice.

Henry Mather Greene married Emeline Augusta Dart in 1899, and in 1901, Charles wed Alice Gordon White. Charles and Alice's four-month honeymoon in England, Scotland and Europe sparked Charles' interest in the English Arts and Crafts Movement.

Activity in the Greene & Greene office was at its peak during the years 1902-1910, with primary focus on residential design. It was during this period that they created some of their finest work. By 1903, Greene & Greene began to offer integrated design services for their clients, providing design and construction supervision of furniture and other interior appointments. They completed approximately 150 projects during these prolific years.

After 1911 the practice began to decline because Greene & Greene designs demanded higher fees and clients experienced frequent schedule overruns. The situation became unacceptable to most clients and by 1916, the brothers personal interests diverged. Charles moved to Carmel, California to pursue other creative paths, while Henry continued the firm's work in Pasadena until the dissolution of the firm in 1922. Henry practiced independently after the separation and Charles, too, worked on occasional commissions into the 1940s, most being additions and renovations for former clients.

The death of Henry's wife in 1935 affected him deeply, and he had little work after that. He reunited with Charles, however, on a few commissions. Charles managed to remain more active in architecture during the Depression of the 1930s, but his interests soon shifted to passionate study of Eastern philosophy, spiritualism and creative writing. Henry died October 2, 1954, in Pasadena, California and Charles died on June 11, 1957 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.

The Greene & Greene Legacy

Charles and Henry Greene are widely considered to have brought high-art aesthetics and exquisite craftsmanship to the American Arts and Crafts Movement in the early part of the 20th century. Their work continues to be exhibited worldwide and is included in decorative arts collections in museums in the United States and throughout Europe. Greene & Greene designs strongly influenced California's architectural heritage. Their work has had international significance as well, inspiring countless architects and designers around the world through a legacy of extant structures, scholarly books and articles. They were recognized by the American Institute of Architects in 1952 for contributing to a "new and native architecture" and are generally credited with fostering a new way of considering buildings and their furnishings as examples of artistic craft.

Popular architecture and design magazines such as The Craftsman, House Beautiful, The International Studio, Country Life in America, House and Garden, Good Housekeeping, and American Home and Garden began featuring articles on Greene & Greene work in 1902, this acclaim helped spread the their designs throughout the country. The rediscovery of their work by the architectural press in the 1950s created a new group of admirers who celebrated their distinctly American interpretation of the Arts and Crafts style as an antidote to the International style, which had gained popularity in Europe and elsewhere.

Today, the current generation of Greene & Greene aficionados tour the Greene & Greene residences and other buildings in California with reverence, like pilgrims paying homage to honored monuments. The Gamble House, one of their masterpieces, receives 30,000 visitors a year from all over the world. Recently available public tours of the Thorsen and Blacker houses drew thousands of visitors and raised awareness of both Greene & Greene residential architecture and furniture design. Interior, architectural design, and architectural history journals such as Style 1900 and American Bungalow are now full of vendors offering reproductions of their furniture and other decorative arts.

Acquisition information:

Collections were acquired by individual repositories.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please contact individual repositories.

Bibliography:

Andersen, Timothy J., Eudorah M. Moore, and Robert W. Winter. California Design 1910. (Los Angeles: California Design Publications, 1974).

Bosley, Edward R. Greene and Greene. (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 2000).

Bosley, Edward R. Gamble House. (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1992).

Bowman, Leslie Greene. American Arts and Crafts: Virtue in Design. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990).

Current, William R., and Karen Current. Greene & Greene: Architects in the Residential Style. (Fort Worth, Texas: Amon Carter Museum of Western Art, 1974).

Clark, Robert Judson, ed. The Arts and Crafts Movement in America: 1876-1916. (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1972).

Cooke, Edward S., Jr. "Scandinavian Modern Furniture in the Arts and Crafts Period: The Collaboration of the Greenes and the Halls." In American Furniture 1993, edited by Luke Beckerdite. (Hanover, N.H., and London: Chipstone Foundation, dist. By University Press of New England, 1993).

Davey, Peter. Arts and Crafts Architecture. (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1995).

Duschscherer, Paul, and Douglas Keister. Inside the Bungalow: America's Arts and Crafts Interior. (New York: Penguin Studio, 1997).

Germany, Lisa. Harwell Hamilton Harris. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1991).

Hales, Virginia Dart Greene, ed. The Memoirs of Henry Dart Greene and Ruth Elizabeth Haight Greene. (La Jolla, Calif.: Privately published by Virginia Dart Greene Hales, 1996).

Hitchmough, Wendy. Arts and Crafts Gardens. (London: Pavilion Books Ltd., 1997).

Kaplan, Wendy. "The Art that Is Life.": The Arts and Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920. (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1987).

Lancaster, Clay. The Japanese Influence in America. (New York: Abbeville Press, 1983).

Lancaster, Clay. "Metaphysical Beliefs and Architectural Principles: A Study in Contrasts between Those of the West and Far East." Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 14, no. 3 (March 1956)

Makinson, Randell L. Greene and Greene: The Passion and the Legacy. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs Smith Publisher, 1998).

Makinson, Randell L. Greene and Greene: Furniture and Related Designs. (Salt Lake City, Utah, and Santa Barbara, Calif.: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1979).

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

Makinson, Randell L. A Guide to the Work of Greene and Greene. (Salt Lake City, Utah, and Santa Barbara, Calif.: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1974).

Miller, Charles. "The James House: Charles Greene's Masterpiece in Stone." Craftsman-Style Houses. (Newton, Conn.: The Taunton Press, 1991): 52-58.

Smith, Bruce. Greene & Greene Masterworks. (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998).

Streatfield, David C. California Gardens: Creating a New Eden. (New York: Abbeville Press. 1995).

Strand, Jannan. A Greene & Greene Guide. (Pasadena: Castle Press, 1974).

Trapp, Kenneth R., ed. The Arts and Crafts Movement in California: Living the Good Life. (New York: Abbeville Press, 1993).

Winter, Robert, ed. Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California. (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1997).

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Architects -- California.
Architecture -- California.
Arts and crafts movement -- California.
Architect-designed furniture.
Architecture, Domestic.
Names:: Greene & Greene.
Greene, Henry Mather, 1870-1954.
Greene, Charles Sumner, 1868-1957.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Processed by Greene Greene Virtual Archives staff.
Date Encoded:: Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Dayna Holz; derived from MS Word. Date of source: May 2003.

Access and use

Restrictions:: Refer to individual repositories for access materials.
Terms of access:: All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the repository holding the particular item.

Preferred citation:: Refer to individual repository finding aids.

Location of this collection:: University of Southern California, Special Collections

Special Collections

Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US

Contact:: (213) 740-5900

specol@usc.edu

Website

Greene &amp; Greene Virtual Archives, 1885-1957