It's not a tree. It appears to be a red-tip photinia (bush). IMO, you can prune it however you wish. Mine requires pruning several times a year because the previous owners planted it right by the front door and it requires diligence to keep it from hogging the front stoop. LOL

It's not a tree, it's a red-tip photinia. Trim however you wish, we hacked several back almost to the ground one winter cuz they were too tall...probably need to do it again next year, if I don't replace them. They're not native and are disease prone. That said, when they're established, they don't need a lot of water and thrive on neglect. I hate pruning/shearing shrubs, so I leave them alone until they're too big for me to tolerate. Most people trim them back at least once a month...typically in nice little rectangular blocks.

I read somewhere recently that Entomosporium will eventually kill every photinia in DFW. My neighbor planted a row of them between our houses and 3 of them are completely dead now. I found this article which sounds like the disease isn't hopeless but you have to stay on top of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Entomosporium on photinia

The other option is to prune them up into a small tree. They'll get 15'-20' when full grown.

Like others have said, they often get planted in inappropriate locations where something that stays much smaller would be better.

If they don't get diseased as mentioned, they are a pretty tough large shrub/small tree.

pruning into a tree type is the best way to go they are beautiful when in full bloom and the Bee's and Butterflies love them but they do get big mine was probably 25 ft. I lost it 2 yrs ago to drought I thought now I'm not so sure why it died but I had it for 32 yrs.

I have four that I planted twenty years ago for privacy and noise abatement................they serve that purpose well. I do not prune except lower branches so I can mow under them. Not all these are in a place where that can be allowed, but it has worked well for me.