Allan Greenberg was born in 1938 in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Witwatersrand in 1961. Witwatersrand’s program was unique at the time for its classical approach to architectural education. Students studied classical architecture for two and half years, followed by a year-long apprenticeship, after which they studied European modernism. Students were asked to draw buildings to scale from memory for exams.

Greenberg apprenticed under Jørn Utzon in Denmark while Utzon was designing the Sydney Opera House, and then with Viljo Revell in Helsinki, Finland. Greenberg moved to the United States in 1963 and earned his Master of Architecture Degree from Yale University in 1965, studying under Paul Rudolph. From 1967 to 1979, Greenberg worked for the City of New Haven’s Redevelopment agency, and then as Architectural Consultant to the Chief Justice of Connecticut. During this time, in 1972, he opened his own architectural practice, eventually opening offices in Washington DC, Greenwich Connecticut, New York City, and Alexandra Virginia. Greenberg received his U.S. citizenship in 1973.

Greenberg’s work includes master plans, feasibility studies, renovations and restorations, new construction, and interior and furniture design for civic, commercial, religious, institutional, and residential clients. In addition to his architectural practice, Greenberg taught at Yale University’s School of Architecture, the Yale School of Law, University of Pennsylvania in the Department of Architecture and Fine Arts, and held visiting professorships at Columbia University, Temple University, University of Illinois, and University of Notre Dame. Greenberg is also a published author of both articles and books including George Washington: Architect, The Architecture of Democracy: American Architecture and the Legacy of the Revolutions, and has had two monographs of his work published. In 1997, Greenberg was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the University of Notre Dame, and in 2006 he was the first American to receive the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture.