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Lawrence A. Greene Jr., AIA of Muhlenberg Greene Architects Leaves Behind A Legacy

by Muhlenberg Greene Architects

Mar 10, 2021

Larry Greene, former President and managing partner at Muhlenberg Greene Architects, died on February 22, 2021 at 87 years of age. Larry Greene, AIA joined Frederick A. Muhlenberg, FAIA to form Muhlenberg Greene Architects in 1965. Larry was 32 and Fred, having opened his architectural practice in Reading in 1920, was 75.

Fred Muhlenberg credited Larry with making the office a success. He stated, “All architects were on the drafting board all the time when I started. Greene’s not like that. He’s an organizer. He doesn’t get on the drafting board. He’s getting us jobs to do.”

Mr. Muhlenberg retired in 1977 and the firm became the sole proprietorship of Mr. Greene. In January 1980 Larry established the present professional corporation of Muhlenberg Greene Architects, Ltd. with Howard Quaintance and James Dockey as partners.

LEADERSHIP
Under the leadership of Larry Greene, Muhlenberg Greene Architects was involved in many of the redevelopment projects constructed in downtown Reading between 1976 and 1988.

Redevelopment initiatives began with the Penn Square Center project. Larry, along with nine (9) other local engineering and construction firms, formed a development group responsible for the design and construction of the 10-story building at 6th and Penn Streets; the building eventually sold to American Bank.

After the Penn Square Center project, the Larry’s firm designed the GlenGery building at 6th and Court Streets, the General Battery building at 7th and Penn Streets, and then moved down Penn Street to design the CNA building, along with the renovations and additions to American Bank’s buildings at 5th and Penn Streets.

Later, the firm teamed with Moeckel Carbonell Architects to design the new bank building on the former Pomeroy’s site at 6th and Penn Streets, currently occupied by Wells Fargo.

Under Larry’s leadership, Muhlenberg Greene Architects was involved with historic rehabilitation projects at the former CNA building at 4th and Washington Streets (The Madison), the former Berkshire Hotel (The Berkshire), and the Abraham Lincoln Hotel at 5th and Washington Streets.

BIOGRAPHY
Larry Greene graduated from Syracuse University’s School of Architecture in 1957. He then spent two years on active duty in the Signal Corps at Fort Monmouth and Fort Lee Virginia as an operations officer and was discharged in April 1960.

After serving in the army, he started work at an architectural firm in Allentown, near his wife’s family farm in Zionsville. His employment there was short lived as a result of the firm’s partners deciding to dissolve the firm. Larry then went on a search for a new job.

Greene recounted his job search strategy at the time, saying, “I started making exploratory forays from the farm to other places within driving distance and ended up one day in Reading, stopping outside of town at a phone booth to look up architects in the yellow pages. I got the names of
ones I thought I could find – meaning addresses like 5th Street and 6th Street. I knocked on doors and got TWO job offers. Of course, I snapped up the first one. Got $10.00 more per week then I had been making, too!”

Larry was a Registered Architect in Pennsylvania as well as many of the surrounding states, he was certified by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and a member of the American Institute of Architects. Well known architectural projects from his partnership with Fred Muhlenberg include the Rohrbach Library, Kutztown University, Thirteenth & Green Elementary School, Reading School District, the American Bank Office Building Addition, Sixth and Washington Streets, the Episcopal House, Berks Senior Citizens Center, Ninth and Washington Streets, and
the Berks Heim Additions & Alterations.

Larry was very active in the Berks County community through his service on numerous Boards including BARTA (for 30 years), Home Health Care Management, United Way of Berks County, and the Berks County Chamber of Commerce. He served his profession as a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was Chairman of its Committee on Architecture for Commerce and Industry, as well as serving on the Board of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects and was President of the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the AIA.

AN ETERNAL OPTIMIST
Mr. Greene was well known for his optimism, and in fact often admitted so. “I am an optimist, always have been.”, when penning a 50th anniversary submission to the Peddie School about his good fortune with Muhlenberg, “However, never could I have imagined what a serendipitous situation I had stepped into. The firm was owned by Frederick A. Muhlenberg, a direct descendent of the Muhlenberg family who played such prominent roles in our colonial history. Fred, himself, was a remarkable individual with separate distinguished careers in architecture (A Fellow in the American Institute of Architects), a much-decorated soldier in two world wars, and in elected public office.”

Principal emeritus Howard Quaintance remembers Larry’s optimism well. “For the 50+ years that I had the good fortune to share in architectural practice with Larry, his most outstanding features were his love of the Architecture profession, his treating the Muhlenberg Greene team as family (with a fatherly concern) and his eternal optimism that everything would be okay despite economic downturns and challenges to the profession. He was able to instill that sense of optimism in all of us.”, Howard recalls.

About his relationship with Mr. Muhlenberg, Larry remarked, “Fred and I simply hit it off splendidly. He ultimately retired from the firm one week after his 90th birthday. I tell the other principals of our firm that’s what I’m going to do. Scares the hell out of them!” Larry ultimately retired in 2013 at the age of 80.

Prior to his retirement from Muhlenberg Greene Architects, Mr. Greene commented that “Practicing architecture in Reading for 35+ years has been interesting, challenging, and fun. Other than work at the firm I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in an interesting variety of professional and community organizations.” Read more about Mr. Greene and his contributions to our community at: https://www.mg-architects.com/lawrence-greene-history

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