Greene & Greene: The Architect Brothers Behind Iconic California Bungalows, Study notes of Interior Design

Download Greene & Greene: The Architect Brothers Behind Iconic California Bungalows and more Study notes Interior Design in PDF only on Docsity! GREENE & GREENE David B. Gamble House, 1908, Pasadena, California Charles was born on October 12, 1868, and his brother Henry on January 23, 1870, in the town of Brighton, Ohio. They grew up in the countryside by the time they were of school age. Those were the years during which the boys developed a genuine respect for the integrity of the natural environment, a respect that would become a part of their lives and would imbue all aspects of their professional activities. When Charles was twelve and Henry was ten, they started in 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. They then apprenticed with several of the finest architectural firms in Boston. Their frequent visits to Boston Museum of Fine Arts during their student years provided them with access to the finest exhibition of Chinese and Japanese arts to be found in America. They were impressed with the functional and organic beauty of the wooden structure of Japanese arts. 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. Henry passed on October 2, 1954, in Pasadena, California and Charles died on June 11, 1957 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Charles expressed his feelings about the modern movement: Building today is engineering, not architecture. The ideal of engineering is precision and economy, the slogan of manufactures. Both of them have a fever of them have a fever of facts and figures, but the public is immune from this malady. It is the merchant who molds the nation with his publicity stuff..... Careless of the quality of material and work he sets a premium on clever design that discreetly covers the engineering it can never be a part of. The real modernist architect turns with disgust from this unmeaning display to aesthetic denial of beauty. Theory/Philosophy The Greenes had powerful national identity, and they embraced the notion of being American most fully with being influenced by orient arts. Charles Greenes expressed that he wanted to know American people of today. Through on the surface it might sound more provincial, but I think it was in fact simply more American and more direct. It is important to remember that the Greens were architects working at a time in which was a powerful quest to find a way of expressing the American architectural identity, and they were discovering part of that in both a rebellion against classicism and in expressions of nationalism. Ten significant works Name of building, location, year •Arturo Bandini House, Pasadena, California 1903 •Henry M. Robinson House 1905 •Adelaide M. Tichenor House, Long Beach, California 1904-05 During the brief period between 1907 and 1909, Greene and Greene created seven designs which reached such a high level of craftsmanship and design sophistication that they have rarely been equaled. •Robert R. Blacker House, Pasadena, California 1907-09 •Freeman A. Ford House, Pasadena, California 1906-08 •David B. Gamble House, Pasadena, California 1908 •Charles M. Pratt House Nordhoff, California1908-11 •William R. Thorsen House Berkeley, California 1908-10 •Dr. S.S. Crow House, Pasadena, California 1909-10 •Armenian Pilgrims Church project, Fresno, California 1908 Major Ideas/Qualities Two main principles characterize the work of the Greenes. One is that they tried to design by themselves not only buildings, but also furniture, carpets, light apparatus, and stained glass, further landscapes. Especially in Gamble house, they devised this principle elaborately with being influenced by orient arts. The other is that they established what is called “California Bungalows”. Bungalows come from India and they were originally the houses for the workers in India. The features of bungalows, that is simple strictures, deep eaves, and good ventilation adjusted the climate of California. The Greenes improved bungalows to suit with California, and succeeded to change them to the residences for rich people. David B. Gamble House South Section Ground floor plan