Peter Hall

About four hundred pieces of furniture produced from 1907 through 1913 can be attributed to the hands of Peter and John Hall (1864-1940). Peter and John were born in Sweden and had immigrated to Illinois by 1872. Peter moved to Pasedena in 1886 and gained a reputation as a master stair builder. He then worked in Seattle, Washington and Port, Townsend, Oregon from 1889 through 1891 when he moved back to Pasedena. The Halls were employed by the millwork firm Pasadena Manufacturing Company beginning in the 1890s. In 1900, Peter left to start a contracting firm in 1902 that John later joined in 1906. John remained at Pasedena Manufacturing Company where he was named foreman in 1899, a position he held until 1906. The Greenes had initially worked with Peter Hall on the renovations to the Todd Ford house in 1905. In the wake of this promising partnership, Peter Hall took out a building permit to erect a one-story carpentry shop on South Raymond Avenue on June 15, 1906, just as construction on the Robinson house began. The brothers’ association with Greene & Greene yielded furniture of the greatest quality and artistic merit. Similar to the furniture of all of the other “ultimate bungalows,” the furniture for the Pratt House was custom-designed to the site by the Greenes and executed by Peter Hall.