“Women Who Build:” Julia Morgan
Monday, August 25, 2014 at 10:36AM 
Julia MorganPart three in our month long series on four interesting American architects and their public buildings, still in use today. Today: Julia Morgan, a near contemporary of last week’s Louis Sullivan (fifteen years later, 1872-1957), but a very different kind of American; West Coast redwood Arts and Crafts style rather than Chicago steel frame skyscrapers. But both worked amid the excitement of the early 20th century, and experimented with new building materials.
Campanil at Mills CollegeWhen the Campanil that Julia Morgan designed for Mills College in Oakland, California in 1904 did not collapse in the massive 1906 earthquake, which flattened much of the area, the young architect became an overnight sensation. Not only did she have a good eye for design, and the cache of being the first woman with a California license to practice architecture, but she really knew her reinforced concrete.
Hearst Castle Only two years before she had been the first woman to graduate from the Ecole Beaux Art in Paris. Now she was being hired to rebuild the badly damaged Fairmont Hotel atop San Francisco’s tony Nob Hill. Morgan went on to build over 700 California homes, churches, women’s clubs, gyms, conference centers and the iconic Hearst Castle, all in earthquake country and all still standing. And all still eliciting interest and admiration. Just ask the over one million annual visitors to Hearst Castle, or conference attenders at Asilomar Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, also designed by Morgan. (Asilomar and Hearst Castle are both now California State Parks and are far and away the largest money makers of the 280 part system – thanks, Julia!)
Another “first” for Morgan was being the first woman engineering graduate from UC Berkeley in 1894. The other women she met there, part of the first wave of feminism, became life long clients and supporters. Through sorority contacts she became the architect for over 20 YMCA buildings in California, community centers and sometimes residences for the increasing numbers of single women moving to cities for employment.
Merrill Hall AsilomarLikewise she was hired by powerful civic women to design women’s city clubs. Through these women she met Phoebe Apperson Hearst, wealthy widow of a California senator and strong supporter of women’s concerns, who hired her to build Asilomar as a seaside retreat for single working women. Hearst was also the mother of William Randolph Hearst, newspaper tycoon who was the model for “Citizen Kane,” and builder of Hearst Castle, a 30 year project for Morgan. Besides numerous other private homes, Morgan built well into her 80’s with many different women’s organizations and institutions, such as Mills College, jobs she acquired from her “old girls network.”
A nice tribute to Morgan came from Elsa Black in 1922. President of the Woman’s Athletic Club of San Francisco, that Morgan designed, she said the building stood as a testament to the “courage, valor, determination, business ability, integrity, optimism…romance, and feminine foresight” of “women who build.”
Of our four August American architects, I have the most personal experience in Morgan’s buildings, as a tourist (Hearst Castle), play attender (St. John’s church, now a theater), swimmer (Berkeley City Club pool) and conference goer (Asilomar).
Morgan left behind her building plans, but not much writing about her work. Unlike Louis Sullivan, whom we singled out last week for being an architect who also wrote poetry and coined the phrase “form follows function,” Morgan resisted talking about her buildings, saying simply, “My buildings speak for themselves.” In that spirit, here are some Julia Morgan buildings.
Hearst Castle: Morgan worked closely with the changeable and eccentric William Randolph for decades on this fantastic monstrosity.
St. John's ChurchSt. John’s Presbyterian Church, Berkeley: A nice example of Morgan’s Craftsman style use of native redwood. It’s a low inviting church rather than a fortress-like stone statement of power.
Asilomar Conference Grounds: Phoebe Apperson Hearst paid for the YMCA to offer this seaside retreat for single working women. Morgan used local redwood and granite to blend into the local setting.
Berkeley Women's Club PoolBerkeley Women’s Club Pool. The many women’s clubs and YMCAs Morgan built promoted physical activities for women, a controversial idea for Victorian style American culture. At the Riverside YMCA she had to fight with the male funders to keep the pool, which they found “unseemly.” This one in Berkeley is a great place to swim.
Copyright © 2014 Deborah Streeter
Reader Comments (1)
Hi Deborah! I'm enjoying your architectural musings -- thanks!
There was an article in Wired UK magazine recently about some new buildings in Silicon Valley: the Google building in Mountain View, Facebook in Menlo Park (Frank Gehry!), and Apple in Cupertino. I think The Backroad Café should send you to check them out. Not least their cafés!