GREENE, CHARLES SUMNER; AND GREENE, HENRY MATHER

born Oct. 12, 1868, Brighton, Ohio, U.S. died , June 11, 1957, Carmel, Calif. born Jan. 23, 1870, Brighton, Ohio died Oct. 2, 1954, Pasadena, Calif. American architects, brothers who pioneered the influential California bungalow (a one-storied house with a low-pitched roof). Together they attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Architecture (Cambridge) and left without graduating in 1891. In 1893 they joined their parents in Pasadena (Calif.), where, in 1894, the brothers established a partnership. The Greenes experimented in various styles but continually sought more direct, simple architectural forms to suit southern California. Their solution was the bungalow, with its interpenetration of interior and exterior space, emphasizing close contact with nature and the use of local materials and crafts. The handful of elaborate houses that the Greene brothers built in Pasadena from 1904 to 1911 feature broad, overhanging eaves, prominent sleeping porches, and a frank utilization of wooden members ("sticks") for exterior decorative effect. Wood, exquisitely worked and finished, figured prominently in these houses. The bungalow style evolved by the Greene brothers soon entered the mainstream of American domestic architecture, influencing the design of countless smaller bungalows. From 1914 the Greenes' own practice declined, however.