Julia Morgan Hall (formerly Girton Hall) is a historic building in the University of California Botanical Garden in Berkeley,

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 ...

. Built in 1911, the building was designed by prominent California architect

Julia Morgan Julia Morgan (January 20, 1872 – February 2, 1957) was an American architect and engineer. She designed more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.Erica Reder"Julia Morgan was a local in ''The New Fillmore'', 1 Febr ...

and originally located on the central campus of 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 ...

, near the present location of the

Haas School of Business The Walter A. Haas School of Business (branded as Berkeley Haas) is the business school of the University of California, Berkeley, a Public university, public research university in Berkeley, California. It was the first business school at a pub ...

. It served as a gathering place for Berkeley's female students, who wanted a female counterpart to Senior Hall, the senior men's meeting hall.

History

Berkeley's female students began planning the hall in 1909 and raised money for the building between 1909 and 1911. The building was first called Girton Hall during this period; the name came from Girton College at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, which was the first women's residential college in England. When the building opened in 1911, its name changed to Senior Women's Hall. The hall gave women's groups at Berkeley a place to meet and represented a significant step toward gender equality at the university. In 1940, the building was moved 160 feet west to make room for a street extension. In 1969, it became a campus child care center, and its name was changed back to Girton Hall to acknowledge its history, even though the name had never been applied to the building after its construction. The building was added to 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 ...

in 1991. In 2014, to make way for an expansion of the Haas School of Business, the child care center moved to another location near the university campus, and Girton Hall was cut into four pieces, moved to the UC Botanical Garden, and reassembled. The name of the building was changed to Julia Morgan Hall, and it re-opened to the public in 2015.

Gallery

File:Julia Morgan Hall - 2015-07-25.JPG, Current location at UC Botanical Garden File:Girton Hall (Berkeley, CA).JPG, Previous location near Haas School of Business

References

External links

Julia Morgan Hall
by the UC Botanical Garden {{National Register of Historic Places in California University of California, Berkeley buildings School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California School buildings completed in 1911 National Register of Historic Places in Berkeley, California 1911 establishments in California