Visual Materials

Client Records

Description: Compiled from gifts from the families of Charles and Henry Greene, as well as from gifts from the families of the clients. Some of the materials could have been part of the job files of the architects' offices (specifications; correspondence with the client, contractors, and others; invoices for labor, materials, furniture pieces, etc.); others document the buildings (and furniture) from the files of the clients. The materials are organized alphabetically by client name. Boxes 74 and 75 represent the work of the firm, Greene and Greene. Box 75 contains records for jobs conducted independently by Charles and Henry after the dissolution of the firm. Box 75a contains the records of a James house library addition by Charles Greene, with the help of his brother Henry, 1938-1944, as well as correspondence of Mrs James about photography for House Beautiful in the 1950s. Personal materials from clients and later owners, such as family photographs and memorabilia, are located in Series IV. Related Research Materials. Clients' and Later Owners' Records.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: 1894-1957
Call number

Charles S. Greene Family and Personal Correspondence

Visual Materials

Box 3 contains letters to and from the Greene family, including correspondence and ephemera documenting Charles' marriage to Alice Gordon White in 1901 and their honeymoon trip to Europe. Also included are scattered letters from Thomas Sumner Greene; from Alice's sisters, Martha and Jane; from Henry Mather Greene, and from the children of Alice and Charles. There is also a series of letters from Alice and the children to Charles while he was on visits to Pasadena in 1918 and 1919. A small group of letters is addressed to Alice Greene from friends and family (1901-1960), as are a few to eldest son Nathaniel Patrickson Greene, and one to daughter Bettie Greene. Several of the letters in this family group concern disposition of Charles' papers after his death.

Subseries B.

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Greene Family Records

Visual Materials

Box 192 (1829-1900) contains correspondence, diaries and financial documents from the White and Storey families (1829-1900), especially George Storey White and his wife Jane, parents of Charles Greene's wife, Alice Gordon White Greene. They document their life in England, immigration to the United States as well as land purchases and business activities in Virginia. Also included are two volumes of a journal (1829-1831) entitled "T[homas] White's Travelling Companion through France, Switzerland, Italy," as well as a diary from 1858 "Thomas White, Engineer's Office, Calçada, Balua, Brazil," documenting Thomas White's work as a land surveyor in Brazil. Box 193 (1919-1983) contains papers from Henry Greene's family, especially correspondence to his sons, Henry Dart Greene and William Sumner Greene, as well as family photographs.

Subseries D.

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Records of Greene and Greene Clients and Later Owners

Visual Materials

Organized by the name of the original client, these boxes contain family photographs, personal memorabilia, family histories and obituaries, property records, and business records from original clients and later owners. Boxes 189-191 contain scrapbooks and an office copybook, documents from the Pasadena Ice Co.

Subseries C.

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Craftsmen

Visual Materials

Two boxes containing materials related to craftsmen who worked on Greene and Greene buildings or furniture. Box 122 contains photographs, correspondence and memorabilia from the family of Emil Lange. Box 123 includes materials from the families of the Hall brothers and other craftsmen who worked for the Halls.

Subseries E

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Presentation Drawings and Oversize Photographs

Visual Materials

The Greene and Greene Collection contains a wide variety of materials, from Greene and Greene ancestor, architect/engineer James Sumner's "Memo of the Timber wanted for the Steeple in Providence," dated 1775, and a diary of a European grand tour from 1829 to 1931 by an English ancestor of Charles Greene's wife, Alice, to drawings and photographs of Greene and Greene works from the time of construction through the close of the 20th century. The bulk of the collection dates from 1889 to 1975. Photographs comprise most of the records documenting their architecture. There is a small number of architectural drawings; most of the firm's drawings are housed at the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, New York City, with a smaller collection of drawings from the estate of Charles Greene at the Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley. The collection is organized into four series: I. Personal papers, II. Office records, III. Job (project) records (including furniture), and IV. Related research materials. In general, the papers and records of both brothers have been kept together for the periods in which they were living together as students and young men, and for the period when they were partners in the firm of Greene and Greene. Within each series, the organization follows the separate lives and works of each brother from the dates at which they diverge. Although the collection has been assembled from many different sources, most items have a unique accession number identifying the donor, so that the researcher can easily identify the source of most documents.

Subseries D

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Scrapbooks: Greene and Greene, Charles, Henry

Visual Materials

Subseries H.

Client Records

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You might also be interested in

Charles S. Greene Family and Personal Correspondence

Greene Family Records

Records of Greene and Greene Clients and Later Owners

Craftsmen

Presentation Drawings and Oversize Photographs

Scrapbooks: Greene and Greene, Charles, Henry