Product Description

Charles and Henry Greene are key figures of the American Arts and Crafts movement. This large-scale monograph on the Greenes' life and complete range of works features new scholarship, newly commissioned photography, and previously unpublished archival material including recently discovered projects. Charles and Henry Greene's work is concentrated in California - where they practised architecture together from 1906-22 before establishing separate offices - and they have become closely identified with the popular regionalist "Craftsman" style. The elegant houses of their peak period, such as the Gamble, Blacker and Thorsen houses, are masterful in their design and execution. No detail was overlooked: the whole interior including furniture, fittings, and glasswork, as well as the building (down to pegs, airvents, and bracing) were conceived as an organic whole, and finished exquisitely. Following the lead of the chronology of their intertwined personal and professional lives, the monograph begins with how the two brothers were raised to be architects and to practice together. they were sent to MIT (then the finest architecture school in America), where their natural artistic skills were combined with an excellent technical grounding, before apprenticing with liberal architects in Boston. After establishing their own practice together they quickly allied themselves with the progressive Arts and Craft movement, a movement they were soon to be shaping as much as responding to. Their distinctive and innovative designs were all-encompassing, treating every component of a house (both inside and out) as an element to be designed. Their work drew prestigious and wealthy clients, but their high fees and exacting (and therefore slow) process eventually led to the break down of their joint practice. The projects of their individual offices, while excellent examples of the Arts and Crafts style, never reached the same aesthetic and architectural! level as the fruits of their symbiotic partnership.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #993345 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

From the Publisher
Charles and Henry Greene are key figures of the American Arts and Crafts movement. This large-scale monograph on the Greenes' life and complete range of works features new scholarship, newly commissioned photography, and previously unpublished archival material including recently discovered projects. Charles and Henry Greene's work is concentrated in California - where they practised architecture together from 1906-22 before establishing separate offices - and they have become closely identified with the popular regionalist "Craftsman" style. The elegant houses of their peak period, such as the Gamble, Blacker and Thorsen houses, are masterful in their design and execution. No detail was overlooked: the whole interior including furniture, fittings, and glasswork, as well as the building (down to pegs, airvents, and bracing) were conceived as an organic whole, and finished exquisitely. Following the lead of the chronology of their intertwined personal and professional lives, the monograph begins with how the two brothers were raised to be architects and to practice together. they were sent to MIT (then the finest architecture school in America), where their natural artistic skills were combined with an excellent technical grounding, before apprenticing with liberal architects in Boston. After establishing their own practice together they quickly allied themselves with the progressive Arts and Craft movement, a movement they were soon to be shaping as much as responding to. Their distinctive and innovative designs were all-encompassing, treating every component of a house (both inside and out) as an element to be designed. Their work drew prestigious and wealthy clients, but their high fees and exacting (and therefore slow) process eventually led to the break down of their joint practice. the projects of their individual offices, while excellent examples of the Arts and Crafts style, never reached the same aesthetic and architectural level as the fruits of their symbiotic partnership.

Customer Reviews

Could have been the definitive history, Although??
Above normal production with some very nice touches. Very well written and complete text, although there is a painful flaw to this publication. The floor plans and a vast number of the desriptive pictures are improperly sized for viewing. Greene & Greene's art-like floor plan drawings have been reduced to something impossible to read and interpret. Considering the price of this volumn, this is an inexcusable flaw. As a coffee table publication this might be acceptable but for the money its a shame the publisher did not catch this oversight.

best on greene and greene
I grew up in Pasadena and have been waiting for a book like this on the greene and Greene brothers. This book makes all the other previous books look naive, fawning, and lame.This book treats the subject, that is, the architecture, properly.

A must have for fans of Greene and Greene
I am a furniture maker working in the G&G style and have been a serious fan for many years. In fact, I have just finished writing my own book on Greene and Greene furniture ( from a woodworker's viewpoint). I relied on information found in Edward R. Bosley's book for my own book. I found his book to be the most in-depth and accurate book available on the subject of Greene and Greene. If you are a fan of G&G this book is an absolute necessity!
I would also highly recommend Bruce Smith's book "Greene and Greene Masterworks".