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Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...
. She designed more than 700 buildings in
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder
"Julia Morgan was a local
in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 February 2011. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
She is best known for her work on Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. Morgan was the first woman to be admitted to the architecture program at l'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts(fr
Agorha.inha, ''Biographie rédigée par Marie-Laure Crosnier Leconte''
in Paris and the first woman architect licensed in California. She designed many edifices for institutions serving women and girls, including a number of buildings for the Young Women's Christian Association (
YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...
) and
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...
. In many of her structures, Morgan pioneered the aesthetic use of
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
, a material that proved to have superior
seismic Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...
performance in the
1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
and
1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
earthquakes. She embraced the
Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
and used various producers of California pottery to adorn her buildings. She sought to reconcile classical and Craftsman, scholarship and innovation, formalism and whimsy. Julia Morgan was the first woman to receive the
American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...
highest award, the
AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...
, posthumously in 2014.


Early life and education


Childhood

Morgan, the daughter of Charles Bill Morgan and Eliza Woodland Parmelee Morgan, was born on January 20, 1872, the second of five children. Her mother, Eliza, grew up as the indulged daughter of Albert O. Parmelee, a cotton trader and millionaire who financially supported the couple when they moved to San Francisco. Two years after their daughter's birth, the Morgans moved to a home they had built in the suburb of
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
. Though the Morgans resided on the West Coast, Eliza still kept close ties with her family. Upon the birth of each Morgan child, the Parmelees sent funds for the family to travel by the
transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous rail transport, railroad trackage that crosses a continent, continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the Ra ...
so that the infant could be christened in the traditional Parmelee family church in New York. Charles Morgan, a mining engineer from New England who had married into a wealthy family, did not succeed in any of his business ventures, so the family relied heavily on the Parmelee fortune. In 1865, Charles had his first venture in California when he bought land in Santa Paula to unsuccessfully drill for oil. He later cofounded the Shasta Iron Company, which was dissolved in 1875 after limited income. In mid-1878, Eliza took the children to New York to live near the Parmelees for a year while Charles worked in San Francisco. In New York, Julia met her older cousin Lucy Thornton, who was married to successful architect Pierre LeBrun. After returning to Oakland, Julia kept in contact with Le Brun; he encouraged her to pursue a higher education. In New York, Julia had been sick with
scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...
and was kept in bed for a few weeks. As a result of this illness, she was prone to
ear infections Otitis is a general term for inflammation in ear or ear infection, inner ear infection, middle ear infection of the ear, in both humans and other animals. When infection is present, it may be viral or bacterial. When inflammation is present due to ...
throughout her adult life. Upon the death of Albert Parmelee in July 1880, Julia's grandmother moved into the Morgan's' Oakland house, bringing with her the Parmelee wealth. Both Julia's mother and grandmother provided strong female role models, who because of their wealth had a strong degree of power in the Morgan household.


Education

Morgan graduated from Oakland High School in 1890. She was dedicated to her education and a professional career in architecture. She enrolled in the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
, where she studied Engineering, as there was no architectural program. At the university, she was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and was often the only woman in her math, science, and engineering courses. She attended Berkeley during a time of growth for women's involvement which took place between 1889 and 1891, when women were founding clubs and gaining access to new spaces and extracurriculars. Morgan helped to create a chapter of the
YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...
during her time as an undergraduate student which made it possible for women to use the gymnasium. She graduated in 1894 as the first woman with a B.S. degree in
civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
at Berkeley with honors. After her graduation, Morgan became a member of the
Association of Collegiate Alumnae The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide network of 170,00 ...
, now the
American Association of University Women The American Association of University Women (AAUW), officially founded in 1881, is a non-profit organization that advances Justice, equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, and research. The organization has a nationwide Social net ...
. One of the engineering lecturers of her senior year was Bernard Maybeck, an architect who designed buildings that Morgan admired for their respect for the surrounding
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
and environment. Maybeck mentored Morgan, along with her classmates Arthur Brown, Jr., Edward H. Bennett and
Lewis P. Hobart Lewis Parsons Hobart (January 14, 1873 – October 19, 1954) was an American architect, whose designs included San Francisco's Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, Grace Cathedral and Macy's Union Square, several California Academy of Sciences building ...
, in architecture at his Berkeley home. He encouraged Morgan to continue her studies at the prestigious École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he had distinguished himself. After graduating Berkeley in 1894, Morgan gained a year of work experience building with Maybeck, then traveled to Paris in 1896 to prepare for the Beaux-Arts entrance exam. The school had never before allowed a woman to study architecture, but in 1897 it opened its entry process to women applicants, largely because of pressure from a union of French women artists, whom Morgan characterized as " bohemians." In her time at the Beaux-Arts, Morgan interacted with members of the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs, a group focused on advancing women in art. Morgan met with these women and was exposed to their
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
views; they discussed how to increase the influence of women in professional careers. In principle, the school admitted the top 30 candidates. It took Morgan three tries to get in: on the first try, she placed too low, while on her second try, in 1898, although she placed well into the top 30, the examiners "arbitrarily lowered" her marks. After more than a year of further study, tutored by François-Benjamin Chaussemiche, a winner of the
Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...
, she finally passed the entrance exams in the Architecture Program, placing 13th out of 376 applicants, and was duly admitted. However, she could study only until her 30th birthday, as the school prohibited older scholars. In early 1902, as her birthday approached, Morgan submitted an outstanding design for a palatial theater. This earned her a certificate in architecture, making her the first woman to receive one from the school; she did so in three years, although the usual time of completion was five years (that was how long Maybeck took, for example)., Retrieved 2009-05-26 She stayed in Paris long enough to collaborate with Chaussemiche on a project for Harriet Fearing, an ex–New Yorker who contracted for a "grand salon" design for her residence in
Fontainebleau Fontainebleau ( , , ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the Kilometre zero#France, centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a Subprefectures in Franc ...
.


Career

Upon her return from Paris, Morgan began working for San Francisco architect John Galen Howard, who was supervising the University of California Master Plan. Morgan worked on several buildings on the Berkeley campus, providing the decorative elements for the
Hearst Mining Building The Hearst Memorial Mining Building at the University of California, Berkeley, is home to the university's materials science, Materials Science and Engineering Department, with research and teaching spaces for the subdisciplines of biomaterials; c ...
and an early proposal for Sather Gate. She was the primary designer for the Hearst Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley's
amphitheater An amphitheatre ( U.S. English: amphitheater) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ('), meaning "place for vie ...
that overlooks the San Francisco Bay. Howard told a colleague that Morgan was "an excellent draftsman whom I have to pay almost nothing, as it is a woman." She saved her money and made plans to work on her own, accepting important side projects. In 1904, Morgan was the first woman to obtain an architecture license in California. While living at the old family home in Oakland, she opened her own office in San Francisco, where the staff knew her as 'J.M.' After her first office was destroyed by the 1906 fire, she opened her office in 1907 on the 13th floor of the Merchants Exchange Building, 465 California Street, in the heart of San Francisco's financial district, where she worked for the rest of her career. In 1907 she partnered with Ira Hoover, former draftsman of Howard. As a firm named Morgan and Hoover, the two worked together until 1910. Morgan reestablished an individual private practice in late 1910. In April 1904, Julia Morgan completed her first
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
structure, El Campanil, the 72-foot bell tower at
Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...
, which is located across the bay from San Francisco. Two years later, El Campanil survived the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated Moment magnitude scale, moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli inte ...
unscathed, which helped build her reputation and launch her career. Throughout her career, Julia Morgan was said to have completed approximately 800 buildings, most of which are located in California. The devastation of the
San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...
in 1906 provided her with the opportunity to design numerous homes, churches, offices, and educational facilities. An important project was the redesign of the landmark Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco after its interior was severely damaged by fire after the earthquake of 1906. She was chosen because of her then-rare knowledge of earthquake-resistant,
reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...
construction. Her work on restoring the Fairmont in less than a year brought her a national reputation as "a superb engineer, an innovative designer and architect, and a dedicated professional." The marked increase in commissions following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake brought her financial success. Greatly impressed by her work on the Fairmont, Phoebe Hearst recommended Morgan for several large construction projects, including Asilomar. Her son,
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, was likewise greatly impressed and, after his mother's death, retained Morgan to design what would become the biggest and most famous project of her career, Hearst Castle.


Hearst projects

File:Hearst Castle Casa Grande September 2012 panorama 2.jpg, The Hearst Castle facade. File:DSC27488, Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, USA (5129765942).jpg, Indoor Roman pool on Hearst Castle grounds (empty) File:DSC27413, Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California, USA (6433990083).jpg, Hearst Castle outdoor Neptune pool view Julia Morgan’s involvement with the Hearst family continued for three generations. Her first project was commissioned by the family in 1902, when she returned from the École: Phoebe Apperson Hearst's Hacienda at Pleasanton. Morgan's most famous patron was the newspaper magnate and antiquities collector
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...
, who had been introduced to Morgan by his mother Phoebe Apperson Hearst, the chief patron of the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
. It is believed that this introduction led to Morgan's first downstate commission by Hearst for the design of the Los Angeles Examiner Building (circa 1914), a Mission revival style project that included contributions by Los Angeles architects William J. Dodd and J. Martyn Haenkel. It is located at the southwest corner of Broadway and 11th Streets on a city block in
Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
. After the Examiner closed in 1989, the building was eventually listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, over the objections of the Hearst Corporation, which was exploring demolition. A 2016 rehabilitation project resulted in the building becoming a site for multiple commercial tenants, notably
Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...
in 2021. In 1919, Hearst selected Morgan as the architect for La Cuesta Encantada, better known as Hearst Castle, which was built atop the family campsite overlooking
San Simeon San Simeon ( Spanish: ''San Simeón'', meaning "St. Simon") is an unincorporated community on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Its position along State Route 1 is about halfway between Los Angeles and San ...
Harbor. Morgan employed
tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or ot ...
, designing many of them herself, from California Faience. The project proved to be her largest and most complex, as Hearst's vision for his estate grew ever grander over the decades of planning and construction. The project included The Hacienda, a residence–private guest house complex built in hybrid Mission Revival, Spanish Colonial Revival (working with Hispanic experts Mildred Stapley and Arthur Byne), and
Moorish Revival Moorish Revival or Neo-Moorish is one of the exotic revival architectural styles that were adopted by architects of Europe and the Americas in the wake of Romanticism, Romanticist Orientalism. It reached the height of its popularity after the mi ...
styles. It was located a day's horseback ride inland from Hearst Castle, next to the Mission San Antonio de Padua near Jolon, California. Her work on 'the Castle' and San Simeon Ranch continued until 1947, ended only by Hearst's declining health. Morgan became William Randolph Hearst's principal architect, producing the designs for dozens of buildings, such as Phoebe Apperson Hearst's Wyntoon, which he inherited. The estate includes a castle and "Bavarian village" of four villas, all on of forest reserve that includes the McCloud River near
Mount Shasta Mount Shasta ( ; Shasta people, Shasta: ''Waka-nunee-Tuki-wuki''; Karuk language, Karuk: ''Úytaahkoo'') is a Volcano#Volcanic activity, potentially active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California. A ...
in Northern California. She also did studio and site work for the uncompleted ''Babicora'', Hearst's Chihuahua, Mexico, cattle
ranch A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of landscape, land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often ap ...
o and retreat.


YWCA projects

Julia Morgan's affiliation with the YWCA began when Phoebe Apperson Hearst recommended her for the organization's Asilomar summer conference center, a project she began in 1913. The Asilomar Conference Center, no longer YWCA but state-run, is still in Pacific Grove near
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
. Morgan also designed YWCAs in California, Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii. Five of the Southern California YWCA buildings were designed by Morgan. The 1918 Harbor Area YWCA (San Pedro, CA) in a Craftsman building is still standing, as is the 1926 Hollywood Studio Club YWCA. Morgan's Riverside YWCA from 1929 still stands, but as the Riverside Art Museum. Her 1925 Long Beach Italian Renaissance branch has been demolished. The "gorgeous" Pasadena YWCA was acquired by the City in 2010 for restoration and public use after several decades of decay. Morgan also designed YWCA buildings in
Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
, including those in Oakland and in San Francisco's Chinatown. The YWCA building in San Francisco reflects her understanding of traditional
Chinese architecture Chinese architecture () is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and has influenced architecture throughout East Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, the structural principles of ...
. The building was restored in 2001 by the Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA), and now houses the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum and Learning Center.


Mills College

Morgan made many architectural contributions to Mills College, a women's college in the
East Bay The East Bay is the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area and includes cities along the eastern shores of San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. The region has grown to include inland communities in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Wi ...
foothills of Oakland, California. Like her work for the YWCA, they were done in the hopes of advancing opportunities for women. Mills president Susan Mills became interested in Morgan in 1904 because she wished to further the career of a female architect and because Morgan, who was early in her career, charged less than her male counterparts. Morgan designed six buildings for the Mills campus, including El Campanil, believed to be the first
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell to ...
on a United States college campus. (El Campanil should not be confused with ''The Campanile'', a nickname for Sather Tower, the bell tower of nearby UC Berkeley.) Morgan helped draft parts of the UC Berkeley campus under John Galen Howard, but the Sather Tower was not her design. Despite being chosen by Mills to design El Campanil and her academic credentials, coworkers like Bernard Ransome, son of Ernest Ransome, did not trust in her abilities as a true concrete expert. Ransome's undermining of Morgan's ability led to less trust in her work and praise veiled in gendered rhetoric at the time. For example, a speaker at the dedication ceremony praised El Campanil for being "reared by the genius of a woman's brain." Morgan's reputation grew when the tower was unscathed by the 1906
San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 AM Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensit ...
. The bells in the tower "were cast for the
World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...
(Chicago-1893), and given to Mills by a trustee". This success led to Morgan becoming the unofficial principal architect for Mills College for the next two decades. Morgan also designed the Margaret Carnegie Library (1906), named after
Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...
's daughter, and the Ming Quong Home for Chinese girls, built in 1924 and purchased for Mills in 1936. It was eventually renamed Alderwood Hall, before becoming the Julia Morgan School for Girls in 2004 (independent of the College). Morgan designed the Mills College Student Union in 1916. Morgan's Kapiolani Cottage has served as an infirmary, faculty housing, and administration offices. Morgan also designed the original gymnasium and pool, since replaced by the Tea Shop and Suzanne Adams Plaza, the first reinforced concrete structure on the west coast.


Heritage on the Marina

From 1922 to 1925, Julia Morgan was enlisted to design a
nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...
to house elderly women in San Francisco. Today the building is home t
Heritage on the Marina
The Julia Morgan Building is owned and operated by the San Francisco Ladies Protection and Relief Society, * * *
"San Francisco Ladies' Protection and Relief Society, doing business as Heritage On The Marina, operates as a non-profit organization."
* *
one of California’s first philanthropic organizations, established in 1853.


Other projects

Among her earliest works was the North Star House in Grass Valley, California, commissioned in 1904–05 by mining engineer Arthur De Wint Foote and his wife, the author and illustrator Mary Hallock Foote. She considered St. John's Presbyterian Church, in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...
, her finest Craftsman-style building. It is now the Berkeley Playhouse. Other projects include the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland; the nearby brick multi-use building at 4021 Piedmont Avenue; the sanctuary of Ocean Avenue Presbyterian Church at 32 Ocean Avenue, San Francisco (where Mission Bay Community Church also meets); and the large Berkeley City Club adjacent to University of California. She designed the World War I YWCA Hostess House in
Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
, built in 1918 and later to become the site of the MacArthur Park Restaurant Some of her residential projects, most of them located in the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
, are ultimate bungalows. The style is often associated with the work of
Greene and Greene Greene and Greene was an architecture, architectural firm established by brothers Charles Sumner Greene (1868–1957) and Henry Mather Greene (January 23, 1870 – October 2, 1954), influential early 20th century American architects. Active prim ...
and some of Morgan's other contemporaries and teachers. The buildings represent the
Arts and Crafts Movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
and the American Craftsman style of architecture. Several houses are on San Francisco's Russian Hill. One of Morgan’s first residential project was to remodel and complete Phoebe Hearst’s
Hacienda del Pozo de Verona The Hacienda del Pozo de Verona was a mansion designed by architect A. C. Schweinfurth for philanthropist Phoebe Hearst in the Amador Valley near Pleasanton, California. The Hacienda was originally built between 1894 and 1898, with substantial la ...
in Pleasanton, California, in Mediterranean and California Mission style. In 1908, Morgan designed the residence of James Henry Pierce at 1650 The Alameda in San Jose, which features rare California timber. Morgan designed two houses in
Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county (United States), county located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 439,035. The count ...
. One, designed by Morgan in 1915, is the "Little Cottage of River Winds" at 26184 Carmelo Street at Carmel Point, outside the Carmel-by-the-Sea city limits. The other is the "Dr. Emma W. Pope House" at 2981 Franciscan Way, on a hillside overlooking the Carmel Mission. It was built in 1940, in the Minimal Traditional architectural style for Dr. Emma Whitman Pope, who was a friend from Morgan's undergraduate years at the UC Berkeley.


Personal life

Although Morgan was highly respected as an architect, not much is known about her personal life. She was never married and had no known romantic relationships. She kept a low profile and lived modestly, in spite of her wealthy clientele. Colleagues and acquaintances were surprised by her modest sense of fashion, a coworker even went as far as saying that Morgan dressed like a "nobody." Morgan gave few interviews and did not write about herself. Early interviews used gendered rhetoric to speak about her accomplishments and early newspaper articles followed her progress at the École des Beaux Arts. After that she mostly avoided interviews and only agreed to articles that focused on her work to advance her reputation. She worked tirelessly on minimal sleep and food. Morgan was very independent. During her transition to Paris she had a fund given to her by her parents for all of her first-year expenses. Even when her funds ran out, she never asked her family for any extra money, but instead learned to live on a tight budget. This experience gave her a concrete understanding of how to handle money efficiently, which helped make her a successful businesswoman after she opened her own practice, and helped her to focus on keeping her projects within her clients' budgets. One of the few public awards she accepted was the University of California, Berkeley, honorary Doctor of Laws degree, its highest award, conferred upon her on May 15, 1929, with the following personal tribute: "distinguished alumna of the University of California, artist and engineer; designer of simple dwellings and of stately homes, of great buildings nobly planned to further the centralized activities of her fellow citizens; architect in whose works harmony and admirable proportions bring pleasure to the eye and peace to the mind." Intrigued with the gaps in Julia Morgan's life story, Belinda Taylor, wrote '' Becoming Julia Morgan'', a 2012 play in which Taylor imagines a plausible life story for Morgan.


Death and legacy

Julia Morgan died on February 2, 1957, in San Francisco, California, at age 85. Her body was buried in the Mountain View Cemetery in the hills of Oakland, California. In 1995, the Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco, where she had her office from 1907 to 1950, was named in her honor. In 1999, a Mediterranean Revival residence originally built in 1918 for Charles Goethe of Sacramento was renamed the Julia Morgan House. It was earlier added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. In 2006, a children's picture book titled ''Julia Morgan Built a Castle'' was published and is available in many public libraries. On May 28, 2008, California Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
and First Lady
Maria Shriver Maria Owings Shriver ( ; born November 6, 1955) is an American journalist, author, a member of the prominent Shriver and Kennedy families, former First Lady of California, and the founder of the nonprofit organization The Women's Alzheimer's M ...
announced that Julia Morgan would be inducted into the
California Hall of Fame The California Hall of Fame is an institution created in 2006 by Maria Shriver to honor important Californians. The award was designed by Californian artists Robert Graham (sculptor), Robert Graham. The hall is located in The California Museum i ...
, located at
The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts The California Museum is the state history museum of the US state of California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the ...
. The induction ceremony took place on December 15 and her great-niece accepted the honor in her place. Julia Morgan was the 2014 recipient (posthumous) of the
AIA Gold Medal The AIA Gold Medal is awarded by the American Institute of Architects conferred "by the national AIA Board of Directors in recognition of a significant body of work of lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture." It is the Ins ...
, the highest award of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She was the first female architect to receive this honor.


Sketches

File:Tour Cesar, Provins, France, circa 1898.jpg, Watercolor of the Tour Cesar, Provins, France, circa 1898 By Julia Morgan


Gallery

File:Ceiling at Julia Morgan ballroom in SF - stierch.jpeg, Ceiling of the Julia Morgan Ballroom, Merchants Exchange Building, San Francisco File:Julia morgan house.jpg, Julia Morgan House, Sacramento, California File:Julia Morgan Hall - 2015-07-25.JPG, Julia Morgan Hall File:Girton Hall (Berkeley, CA).JPG, Girton Hall, Berkeley


See also

* Women in architecture *
California Hall of Fame The California Hall of Fame is an institution created in 2006 by Maria Shriver to honor important Californians. The award was designed by Californian artists Robert Graham (sculptor), Robert Graham. The hall is located in The California Museum i ...


References

46. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2024, January 29). Julia Morgan. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julia-Morgan


Further reading


Books

* Boutelle, Sara Holmes (1988). ''Julia Morgan, Architect'' New York: Abbeville Press. * * * * Morgan, J. (1976)
Architectural drawings by Julia Morgan: beau-arts assignments and other buildings
. Oakland, Calif: Oakland Museum, Art Dept. * Morgan, J., Hearst, W. R., & Loe, N. E. (1987)
San Simeon revisited: the correspondence between architect Julia Morgan and William Randolph Hearst
San Luis Obispo, Calif: Library Associates, California Polytechnic State University. * Morgan, J. (1987)
Berkeley houses by Julia Morgan
. Berkeley, California: The Association. * Perry, Phillis J. (2018). ''All About Juli
Morgan
'. Indianapolis, Indiana, Blue River Press . * Wilson, Mark A. (2007). ''Julia Morgan: Architect o
Beauty
'. Salt Lake City, Utah: Gibbs Smith.


Reviews

* Kastner, Victoria. (2003)
"Morgan and Associates: Julia Morgan's Office Practice as Design Metaphor."
''20 on 20/20 Vision''. Boston: AIA Diversity Committee/Boston Society of Architects, pp. 44–51. * Longstreth, R. W. (1977)
Julia Morgan, architect. Berkeley Architectural Heritage publication series, no. 1
. Berkeley, California: Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association. * McNeill, Karen (May 2007
"Julia Morgan: Gender, Architecture, and Professional Style."
''Pacific Historical Review'', pp. 229–267. * McNeill, Karen (Summer 2012
"'Women Who Build: Julia Morgan & Women's Institutions." ''California History'', pp. 41–74.
* Pasadena Cultural Heritage Commission. (1988)
Report on reuse of the Julia Morgan YWCA building: YWCA & YMCA Pasadena, California
. New York: Halsband. * Quacchia, R. L. (2005)
Julia Morgan, architect, and the creation of the Asilomar Conference Grounds: including a comparison with Hearst Castle
Virginia Beach, Virginia: Q Pub. * Steilberg, W. T., & Morgan, J. (1983)
Some examples of the work of Julia Morgan
. San Francisco: ''Architect and Engineer of California''. * University of California, Berkeley. (1986)
Julia Morgan, architectural drawings: inventory of holdings, College of Environmental Design
. Berkeley: The College.


Article

* Hawthorne, Christopher. "Julia Morgan: Her Quietly Revolutionary Architecture – a Blend of Beaux-Arts and Bay Area Influences – Is Finally Earning Its Due." ''Architect (Washington, D.C.)'' 103, no. 6 (June 1, 2014): 170–179.


External links



* ttps://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/julia-morgan/ Pioneering Women of American Architecture, Julia Morgan
Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, Episode 1: Finding Julia Morgan

The Julia Morgan Collection at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Julia MorganAn Online Exhibition

Julia Morgan Collection
at the Environmental Design Archives
Hidden Engineer: The Designs of Julia Morgan

Julia Morgan Architectural Drawings, 1907–1929
The Bancroft Library
Index of Buildings by Julia Morgan
*
One Woman’s Contribution to Arts and Crafts Architecture

Julia Morgan "Spotlight on Women in Design"

Julia Morgan 2012

Morgan (Julia) Collection, 1893–1980
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, Julia 1872 births 1957 deaths 20th-century American architects 20th-century American women American alumni of the École des Beaux-Arts American neoclassical architects Architects from San Francisco Architecture in the San Francisco Bay Area Arts and Crafts architects Beaux Arts architects Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California) American women architects Historicist architects History of the San Francisco Bay Area Mediterranean Revival architects People from Oakland, California Architects from the San Francisco Bay Area Spanish Colonial Revival architects Spanish Revival architects UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni Recipients of the AIA Gold Medal Concrete pioneers Oakland High School (Oakland, California) alumni Women's firsts