The Dallas firm of Greene LaRoche and Dahl spanned seven decades and evolved from the typical late 19th century firm to a modern full-service office. The firm has gone through numerous name changes:
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Herbert Miller Greene (1871-1932) was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania and spent his childhood in Peoria, Illinois. After receiving his B.S. in architecture from the University of Illinois in 1893, he practiced architecture in Peoria for several years and married Annie Williams in 1895. Greene moved to Dallas in 1897 where he began a partnership with James Hubbell. Hubbell and Greene were responsible for some of the earliest Sullivanesque designs in Texas, such as the Kingman Texas Implement Company Building. By 1919, Hubell had left the firm. Other important works by the firm included the Nieman-Marcus Building, the Dallas News Building, and Scottish Rite cathedrals in Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio, Texas and Joplin, Missouri.
In 1922 he was appointed "university architect" for the University of Texas, a post he held for the next ten years. During this time, he designed 10 buildings including the Biology Building (1925), Garrison Hall (1926), and Littlefield Dormitory (1927). After Paul Cret became consulting architect in 1930, his firm was in charge of producing working drawings for an additional 7 buildings on campus. In order to undertake such a large commission, Greene found it necessary to add partners to his firm. Edwin LaRoche became a partner in 1927 and George Dahl was made a partner the following year.
Greene was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1923 and served on the Committee for the Beautification of Washington D.C. and Environs as well as the AIA Standing Committee on Competitions. Greene died suddenly in 1932 during a trip to Chicago.
Edwin Bruce LaRoche (1885-c.1943) was born and educated in South Carolina. He attended the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee before receiving a Bachelors degree in architecture from Cornell University in 1912. He worked for several years with the New York firm of Trowbridge and Livingston before accepting a teaching position at Texas A&M University in 1919. He served as chairman of the department until resigning in 1925 to return to private practice. He moved to Dallas and became partners with Herbert M. Greene.
Born in Minneapolis, George Leighton Dahl (1894-1987) received a BS in architecture from the University of Minnesota in 1920 and an MS in architecture from Harvard in 1923. He received the prestigious Nelson Robinson Traveling Fellowship in 1922, enabling him to travel throughout Europe and Africa and to attend the American Academy in Rome. Upon his return to the United States, he worked as a designer for Myron Hunt in Los Angeles until being offered a job in Dallas by Herbert M. Greene in 1928.
Dahl is perhaps best known as the chief architect for the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas (1935-1936) where he was responsible for the design of 26 buildings. Commonly known as Fair Park, it is now listed as a National Historic Landmark. Dahl was able to make the transformation from the traditional design approach to Modernist tenets that dominated the post-World War II profession. Included among the buildings his firm designed are the RFK Stadium in Washington D.C., First National Bank of Dallas, Earle Cabell Federal Building and the Dallas Morning News Building
Under Dahl's leadership, the firm was transformed into a modern office with a highly developed marketing system and that included such specialists on staff as engineers, estimators, superintendents, inspectors and interior designers. Dahl pioneered "fast-tracking" in Texas, a technique whereby construction is begun even before working drawings are complete. It is claimed that he designed the first drive-in bank in 1938.
He served as the second president of the Texas Society of Architects and was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1958. Dahl retired in 1973. During the scope of his career, he designed over 3,000 structures. He died in 1987.
This collection contains selective works from the firm of Greene LaRoche and Dahl, and its predecessor and successor firms, from 1902 through 1953. It comprises 839 architectural drawings representing 65 projects. The vast majority of these projects are from Texas, primarily Dallas, although several out-of-state projects are included.
Among the buildings represented in the collection are: the Neiman-Marcus Buildings in Dallas (1914-1944); Scottish Rite Cathedral in Joplin, Missouri (no date); residences for Hereford (1913) and A.T. Lloyd (nd) in Dallas; Texas Centennial Central Exposition (1930s); several buildings for the University of Texas (1920s-1930s); and the Dealey Plaza Memorial (1949) in Dallas. No other archival material is included in this collection.
Related material can be found at the Dallas Public Library, the Dallas County Heritage Society, the Dallas Historical Society, and Texas A & M University, Commerce.
Unpublished inventory in Archive.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the University of Texas Online Catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Access is by appointment only to any serious scholar. Rolled materials must be flattened before viewing. A three-day advance notice is required to flatten rolled materials. Portions of this collection are not processed and may not be accessible.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Alexander Architectural Archive's Use Policy
Greene LaRoche and Dahl Collection, Drawings, 1902-1953, the Alexander Architectural Archive, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin
Transferred to the Alexander Architectural Archive from the University of Texas at Austin, School of Architecture.
Drawings processed by: Lila Knight, Blanca Madriz, and Beth Dodd
Processing is not completed. Please see Archive's staff for more information.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
Entries are indexed in alphabetical order by Client's last name. If the client is not identifiable the field will remain blank. Entries without client names are sorted by Project Name and listed before those that provide client's names. Project names are supplied by the cataloger, as title blocks on the drawings prove to be inconsistent and many drawings are not labeled. Dates are offered if they can be derived from the drawings or gathered from other authoritative sources. The term "drawing" includes both original works (such as pecil on trace paper, or ink on tracing clothe) as well as copies (such as sepia prints, blueline prints, etc.).