University of Southern California, Special Collections

Greene & Greene Virtual Archives, 1885-1957

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Greene & Greene Virtual Archives (GGVA) contains images of drawings, sketches, photographs, correspondence, and other historical documents related to the work of the architects Greene & Greene.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& Greene Virtual Archives (GGVA) contains digital images of drawings, sketches, photographs, correspondence, and other historical documents related to the lives and work of the architects Charles Sumner and Henry Mather Greene, founders of the southern California design firm Greene & Greene (active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.<em> California Design 1910.</em> (Los Angeles: California Design Publications, 1974).

Bosley, Edward R.<em> Greene and Greene.</em> (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 2000).

Bosley, Edward R.<em> Gamble House.</em> (London: Phaidon Press Ltd., 1992).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smith, Bruce.<em> Greene &amp; Greene Masterworks.</em> (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1998).

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

Strand, Jannan.<em> A Greene &amp; Greene Guide.</em> (Pasadena: Castle Press, 1974).

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

Winter, Robert, ed. <em> Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California.</em> (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 Prepared:
© 2001
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:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
Website

Contents

I. Personal Papers 1885-1957

Summary

Extent:
395 images

Contents

A. Family Correspondence, 1890-1948,

Summary

Dates:
1890-1948,
Extent:
41 images

Background

Scope and content:

Includes correspondence between Henry Mather Greene and Charles Sumner Greene, correspondence between the Greene brothers and other family members.

B. Education, 1885-1890,

Summary

Dates:
1885-1890,
Extent:
3 images

Background

Scope and content:

Images are of studies, sketches, drawings and watercolors from the Greenes' student years.

C. Photographs, 1887-1947,

Summary

Dates:
1887-1947,
Extent:
219 images

Background

Scope and content:

Included here are personal photographs of the Greenes', their family, friends and professional associates

D. Creative works, 1888-1916,

Summary

Dates:
1888-1916,
Extent:
64 images

Background

Scope and content:

A variety of personal notebooks, poetry, and essays, including Charles Sumner Greene's extensive notes on Claude Bragdon's The Beautiful Necessity, some early paintings and sketches.

E. Financial Records, 1916-1928,

Summary

Dates:
1916-1928,
Extent:
26 images

Background

Scope and content:

Includes some correspondence with vendors, receipts, bank records, notes.

F. Professional Papers, 1914-1957,

Summary

Dates:
1914-1957,
Extent:
30 images

Background

Scope and content:

Documents of professional associations, memberships, honors.

G. Ephemera, 1890-1922,

Summary

Dates:
1890-1922,
Extent:
12 images

Background

Scope and content:

Certificates and awards, City Planning records.

II. Office Records 1904-1942

Summary

Extent:
31 images

Contents

A. Correspondence and Business Records, 1911-1942,

Summary

Dates:
1911-1942,
Extent:
21 images

Background

Scope and content:

Includes photographs of Greene & Greene office, Correspondence between the Greenes and other architects including Frank Lloyd Wright, patent certificates, time sheets.

B. Vendor Files, 1904-1937,

Summary

Dates:
1904-1937,
Extent:
10 images

Background

Scope and content:

Includes correspondence between the firm, vendors and clients

Project Records 1894-1947

Summary

Extent:
more than 3,000 images

Background

Scope and content:

Project- records, correspondence, drawings, and photographs are organized by client or project name. A list that contains the project/client name, geographic location, and dates for all projects within the GGVA can be found in the Project Index.

Guide to the drawings and photographs from The Avery Fine Arts Library, Columbia University

Summary

Extent:
1822 items in the GGVA (chiefly consists of architectural drawings dated ca. 1896-ca.1931)

Background

Scope and content:

Greene & Greene documents were donated to Avery Library in 1960 by Jean Murray Bangs. Charles and Henry Greene had provided the records to Ms. Bangs while she prepared to write a book on the Greenes' work. A second group of records, mainly photographs, was donated to the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library after the death of Ms. Bangs by her husband, architect Harwell Hamilton Harris. The Greene & Greene collection consists of 4,764 drawings, 585 photographs, and two boxes of archival material, the dates ranging from ca. 1896-1931. The Greene & Greene drawings represent approximately 120 projects with related notes, correspondence, and specifications for designs located primarily in California. Approximately 1822 drawings and photographs were selected for inclusion in the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives. There is a unique group of photographs of Greene & Greene projects by the photographer Leroy Hulbert.

View Finding Aid at: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/avery/greene

Guide to the drawings and photographs selected from The Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley

Summary

Extent:
941 items in the GGVA

Background

Scope and content:

The Charles Sumner Greene Collection contains a wide range of material from his Carmel, California home and studio, donated by the Charles Greene family in 1959. These records document Greene's personal and professional life, and include items from the period 1862-1956, as well as correspondence and project records from Henry Mather Greene and the Greene & Greene firm. The collection is organized into four series 1. Personal Papers, 2.Office Records, 3. Project Records, and 4. Additional Donations. The Personal Papers series is comprised largely of correspondence with family members, family photographs, education materials (mostly from MIT), records of Charles Greene's travels, honor awards, professional memberships, and material documenting his creative interests. The Office Records document the administration of the Greenes' architectural practice and contains correspondence, standard office material such as time sheets and receipts, catalogs, samples, vendor and craftsmen correspondence. The project records such as drawings, specifications, sketches, photographs, and client and firm correspondence make up the largest part of the collection. The Additional Donations series contains ancillary material related to the Greene collection such as Roy Flamm photographs of Charles' Carmel studio commissioned by the College of Architecture. Selected for inclusion in the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives project is a representation of each series, with a strong focus on the project records.

View Finding Aid at: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/dynaweb/ead/berkeley/ceda/greene/

Guide to the drawings and photographs selected from The Gamble House and The Greene and Greene Archives, University of Southern California

Summary

Extent:
1060 items in the GGVA

Background

Scope and content:

The decorative arts collection at The Gamble House, University of Southern California consisted initially of furnishings given with the house by the Gamble family in 1966 to the City of Pasadena in a joint agreement with USC. Subsequent gifts of Greene & Greene objects and decorative arts from the Arts and Crafts period have significantly increased the size of the collection and help to better interpret and contextualize the work of Greene & Greene. Most of the collection's decorative arts are housed at The Gamble House, USC and in the Greene & Greene exhibition gallery within the Virginia Steele Scott Gallery at The Huntington Library in San Marino, California. The Decorative Arts and Furniture Collection includes furniture made for the Gamble House, the Thorsen House, the Bolton House, the Robinson House, and the Cordelia Culbertson House, as well as individual pieces made for Mrs. Willis Walker, Mary J. Moore, and Belle Barlow Bush, when she resided in the Bolton House. Also included are views of the interior of the Gamble House, showing interior details such as the living room friezes, art glass light fixtures and windows, the main staircase, and fireplaces. Furniture from houses other than the Gamble House is housed at the Huntington Library, Art Galleries and Botanical Gardens, where a replica of the Robinson dining room has been built to display the Robinson dining room furniture and ceiling lantern. A selection of recent photographic documentation of the firm's furniture and other decorative arts is presented as part of the Greene & Greene Virtual Archives.

The Greene & Greene Archives, USC within the Huntington Library is an eclectic collection of Greene & Greene materials. Since its inception, over four hundred donors have given Greene & Greene a wide variety of items including original job files containing client and vendor correspondence, original drawings, drawing surrogates from other repositories, personal correspondence, specifications, contracts, post cards, invoices, notes, building permits, advertisements, philosophical writings, books, newspaper and magazine articles about Greene & Greene or their projects, memorabilia, sketchbooks, and scrapbooks. These items have been divided into three groups: 1) original documents that were among the personal or firm records of architects Greene & Greene 2) Gamble family records, and 3) reference materials. The reference collection of secondary materials consists of letters, snapshots of the Greene & Greene houses at various times, postcards, owner obituaries, published articles about the houses and an array of miscellany and ephemera that are organized by project. Generally, only primary resource documents from the first two groups, or those created by Charles or Henry Greene or the Greene & Greene firm, have been selected for the GGVA.

View Finding Aid at: http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/greeneandgreene/findingaid