Just at the time when Henry Greene’s financial prospects
were looking grim due to lack of work, Estelle Strasburg commissioned
a house in early 1929. She was a demanding client and rejected
plan after plan based on the location of her own bedroom and
the proposed foot traffic flow through the house. The house
was sited on a wooded lot in Adams Park in a quiet suburban
neighborhood. By 1929 it was not only difficult to purchase
the high quality wood for exterior half-timbering and interior
finishing for which the Greene firm was well known, but skilled
craftsmen were also becoming scare. Henry chose instead to design
a stucco exterior with painted wood trim and a steep pitched
roof. The entry path through the front garden parallels the
short living room wing of the L-shaped plan. The interior walls
are plaster with unpainted mahogany trim and molding of lesser
quality than could be purchased for the firm’s earlier
work. The house stands today in its original location, though
it has been mistakenly listed as demolished in some lists of
the Greenes’ work.
