Greene & Greene

Description

Charles and Henry Greene created the definitive houses of the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Raised to be architects, the Greene brothers were educated together at MIT, where their natural artistic skills blossomed in concert with an excellent practical education. While they practised architecture jointly in southern California from 1906 to 1922 they achieved a powerful symbiosis, resulting in some of the most beautifully crafted houses in America.

The elegant works of their peak period, such as the Gamble, Blacker and Thorsen houses, are masterful in their design and execution. No detail was overlooked: every element of the interior, including furniture, fittings and glasswork, as well as the building structure (down to pegs, air-vents and bracing) was conceived as an organic whole, and finished exquisitely. No hint of conflict was ever recorded between the gentlemanly brothers, yet their intertwined professional lives ultimately diverged into a physical separation and distinct design vocabularies. Even so, the automatic bond between the brothers was never completely severed, and they continued to consult each other on projects for the rest of their lives.

This critical monograph, which charts the brothers’ careers (together and apart), is illustrated with superb new photography and draws on a wealth of previously unpublished archival material.

Edward R Bosley is Director of the Gamble House in Pasadena, California. He has written and lectured widely on the work of the Greenes.

“A very thorough monograph on the architects’ career with project drawings and photographs.”—Antiques Trade Gazette

“This is a work of first-class scholarship, thoroughly annotated and with a detailed listing of all the joint and independent projects. It is beautifully illustrated and, through its objectivity, presents both the men and their work in the most sympathetic light.”—The Architects’ Journal, Books of the Year 2000

“A serious monograph on the Greene brothers, architects of some of the most fascinating houses in America, is long overdue. Edward Bosley… Fills the gap with a stunning volume… He is thorough to a degree… Every single building is relentlessly catalogued, costed and recorded. But the main text is fluent and full of contemporary documentation from clients. Best of all, it is illuminated by Mark Fiennes’s evocative colour photographs.”—World of Interiors

“A book which deserves a place on every Arts and Crafts bookshelf as a scholarly and enjoyable portrait of two of America’s most fascinating designers.”—Crafts

Additional information

Dimensions	1.125 × 10.25 × 10.75 in
Imprint	Phaidon Press
Format	General Trade
ISBN-13	09780714839509
ISBN-10	0714839507
Author	Edward R Bosley
Audience	General / adult