GREENE, HERBERT M.

Herbert M. Greene, F. A. I. A
From Proud Heritage, Vol. III by DCPA.This 352 page hardcover book is available online.

Herbert Miller Greene (1871-1932) was one of Texas’ foremost architects of the early twentieth century. A native of Huntington, Pennsylvania, he was descended from Revolutionary War Lt. Col. Henry Miller of Pennsylvania. The Greene family moved to Peoria, Illinois, and he received a degree in architecture from the University of Illinois in 1893.

Greene and his wife, née Annie E. Williams, moved to Dallas in 1897. Reportedly, his first commission was The Dallas Morning News Building, followed shortly thereafter by a mansion for the publisher, Alfred H. Belo, on Ross Avenue. Over the next three decades, alone or with others, he designed some of Dallas’ best-known landmarks.

First Church of Christ Scientist (1910)

His ecclesiastical buildings included First Church of Christ Scientist (1910), the First Methodist Church (1924), Westminster and Oak Cliff Presbyterian Churches, and Temple Emanu-El (1917). Among his commercial commissions were Neiman-Marcus (1914), Titche-Goettinger (1929) and Volk’s (1930).

Dallas Scottish Rite Cathedral, (1909)

Greene was a thirty-third degree Mason and designed Scottish Rite Temples in Dallas (1909), El Paso (1921), San Antonio (1924) and Joplin, Missouri, as well as the Scottish Rite Dormitory in Austin. His firm designed at least eight buildings for the University of Texas at Austin, and another for the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Civic commissions were the No. 4 Hook & Ladder Co. (1909) on Cedar Springs, Parkland (later Woodlawn) Hospital (1913) and the Textile & Fine Arts Building (razed) on the State Fair grounds. He designed few residences, but the villa facing Exall Lake on Beverly Drive built for Mrs. Rose Youree Lloyd (1912) was one of the most opulent homes in the city. The Owens-DeGolyer-Mosley House (1929), a Norman manor at 6701 Turtle Creek Blvd., was another.

A. T. Lloyd Estate, Highland Park, Texas

Greene was most comfortable in Classical Revival architectural styles, but he worked ably in Mediterranean-inspired buildings at the University of Texas and Gothic idioms, when required, for churches. In the 1910s, Greene took James P. Hubbell as his partner. In the later 1920s, he went into partnership with Edwin Bruce LaRoche and George Leighton Dahl. The latter became a celebrated architect in his own right. Greene was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and for two years president of its Texas Chapter.

Greene died suddenly in Chicago in 1932, and was buried in Grove Hill Cemetery. He was survived by his widow and daughter, Florence (Mrs. Roy) Taylor. He resided at 4511 Highland Drive.