"Small
but mighty" is an apt description of
California’s premier woman architect, Julia
Morgan. She stood only 5’ tall, but her stature
as an engineer and architect puts her
among the giants of the 20th century. An
intensely private person, her profession was
her life. After hard-fought acceptance, she
became the first female graduate of the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Her determination
and strength of character would be essential
in working with her most famous client,
William Randolph Hearst, and her most
famous project, San Simeon.
Morgan also designed the "Little Castle," the Berkeley Women’s City Club - a beautiful mélange of Moorish, Gothic and Romanesque elements. Hearst’s mother, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, chose Morgan to design many buildings for the women’s organizations of which she was a major patron. Asilomar, the YWCA camp Morgan designed in Pacific Grove, is a California State Monument and perhaps the most prominent Arts & Crafts compound in the country. In her lifetime Morgan designed and saw built over 700 structures, including over 100 single-family homes in Berkeley alone. She was skilled in many styles, ranging from the brownshingles so characteristic of Berkeley, to formal classical structures and numerous revival buildings. Her homes in the styles of the Arts & Crafts movement rank with the best of her contemporaries.
(This short biography appears in the July 2004 issue of Old House Interiors magazine, as part of my article about my own Julia Morgan home.)
For further reading:
Julia Morgan: Architect by Sara Holmes Boutelle, Richard Barnes (Photographer)
Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House by Victoria Kastner, Victoria Garagliano (Photographer)
Julia Morgan: Architect (American Women of Achievement) by Cary James
Julia Morgan, Architect of Dreams by Ginger Wadsworth
Julia Morgan: Pioneer Woman Architect by Glenna Dunning
