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M. Edwin Green
Born(1896-07-01)July 1, 1896
DiedMarch 2, 1985(1985-03-02) (aged 88)
NationalityUnited States
OccupationArchitect
PracticeLawrie & Green
The former Hazleton High School, completed in 1927.
The Warren Municipal Building, completed in 1937.
The Dauphin County Courthouse, completed in 1943.
The Hunt Library of Carnegie Mellon University, completed in 1961.
The State Museum of Pennsylvania, completed in 1965.

M. Edwin Green FAIA (1896–1985) was an American architect in practice in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1970. The architectural firm which he cofounded in 1922, Lawrie & Green, was active until 1981.

Life and career

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M. Edwin Green was born July 1, 1896 in Kerhonkson, New York. He attended Columbia University and the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, graduating from the latter in 1920 with a BS in architecture. During World War I he served in the United States Army Air Service. He joined the state Bureau of School Buildings, and rose to the rank of assistant director. In 1922 he and engineer Ritchie Lawrie Jr., also a Carnegie graduate, formed the firm of Lawrie & Green, architects and engineers, with offices in Harrisburg. This firm succeeded Lawrie's former practice, Lawrie & Lappley, which designed the Troy Public High School, completed by Lawrie & Green in 1924. Owing in part to Green's work with the state, the firm became well known for the design of schools and other public buildings. Major public projects include the Dauphin County Courthouse, completed in 1942, and the State Museum of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania State Archives complex, completed in 1965. Lawrie died in 1962, and Green retired in 1970.[1] Over the years the firm had admitted several employees into the partnership, and the firm was continued by four of these—J. Robert Shaffer, John L. Menger Jr., Robert L. Richey and J. Harlan Lucas—until its sale in 1981 to the Altoona architectural firm Hayes, Large, Suckling & Fruth.[2][3] Its successor, Hayes Large, maintained a Harrisburg office until shortly before its dissolution in bankruptcy in 2015.

Green's public service began in 1940 when he was appointed to the State Architects Licensure Board. The board elected him as its secretary, an office he filled until he was elected president in 1956. He served on the board until 1960.[4] He was a member of the committee which revised the Harrisburg building code in 1950–51 and of the State Building Regulations Committee from 1952 to 1955.[5] From 1955 he served on the advisory board of the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.[6]

Green joined the American Institute of Architects in 1927 as a member of the Southern Pennsylvania, now Central Pennsylvania, chapter. He served variously as chapter president, treasurer and secretary and was president of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects for 1954–55.[5] In 1952 he was elected a Fellow, the second Harrisburg architect to be so honored.[7] He served on the AIA modular standardization committee from 1946 to 1955 and on the judiciary committee from 1964 to 1968.[4][6]

Lawrie & Green had close ties to state senator M. Harvey Taylor, a powerful political boss and power broker in the region.

Personal life

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Green was married in 1922 to Gladys Margaret Wilson, and they had three children. He died March 2, 1985 at the age of 88.[5][1]

In addition to his official public service, Green was involved in several local institutions. He was variously president of the Art Association of Harrisburg, vice president of the Harrisburg Chamber of Commerce and trustee of The Kiski School and the Grace Methodist Church of Harrisburg.[5]

Architectural works

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Lawrie & Green, 1922–1970

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Lawrie & Green, 1970–1981

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Notes

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  1. ^ Built as a twin of the South Office Building, designed by Arnold W. Brunner and completed in 1922.
  2. ^ In association with consulting architect Paul Philippe Cret.
  3. ^ As local associate architects for Mitchell/Giurgola Architects of Philadelphia.
  4. ^ In association with Noelker & Hull of Chambersburg.

References

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  1. ^ a b Ken Frew, Building Harrisburg: The Architects & Builders, 1719–1941 (Harrisburg: Historical Society of Dauphin County, 2007)
  2. ^ "Architectural Firm of Lawrie & Green" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 25.
  3. ^ "Hayes Large Architects" in Columns 5, no. 8 (September, 1991): 8-9.
  4. ^ a b c d "Green, M. Edwin" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1962): 263–267.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Green, M. Edwin" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1956): 208–209.
  6. ^ a b c "Green, M. Edwin" in American Architects Directory (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1970): 345.
  7. ^ The American Institute of Architects College of Fellows History & Directory (Washington: American Institute of Architects, 2019)
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h George E. Thomas, Buildings of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012)
  9. ^ a b c d Oliver P. Williams, County Courthouses of Pennsylvania: A Guide (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2001)
  10. ^ Sharon Hernes Silverman, The State Museum of Pennsylvania (Mechanicsburg: Stackpole Books, 2005)