Personal Data

Charles Reggio Greco was born on October 15, 1873, the son of Letterio Greco and his wife, Catherine Reggio (daughter of Christopher Reggio).

He married on April 15, 1902, in Cambridge, to Gertrude Louise Hennessy (b. 1875-1876 in Cambridge; d. 14Apr1930 in Winchester), daughter James Hennessy and his wife, Mary Dore.

Charles Greco died on February 22, 1963, in Trumbull, Connecticut.

Career

Charles Greco attended Harvard’s Lawrence Scientific School.

He was a draftsman with the firm of Wait and Cutter (R. Pote Wait and Olin W. Cutter) from about 1893 to 1899, and then with Peabody and Stearns until 1907. He then became a sole practitioner.

In 1902, he was nominated by Mayor John H. H. McNamee of Cambridge as Superintendent of Public Buildings, replacing William H. Gray, whom the Mayor fired.  The dismissal of Gray and appointment of Greco met with great public controversy.  It is unclear whether he every was approved for the position by the Board of Aldermen.

He was the chief architect during the remodeling of the courthouses in Cambridge, Malden, and West Roxbury, and is credited with designing numerous schools, municipal buildings, churches, and Jewish temples.  Among the buildings he designed were the lower elementary school on Parker Hill in Roxbury (1911), the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Jamaica Plain (1911), the Elks Club Lodge in Central Square of Cambridge (1913), the Somerville District Courthouse on Walnut Street (1925), and the Cambridge Home for the Aged and Infirm (1928).

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