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 Julia Morgan was born in San Francisco on January 20, 1872. The second of five children born to Charles and Eliza Morgan, Julia was raised in Oakland, California. She pursued an undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of California and was the only woman to complete the program in 1894.
Upon the advice of one of her instructors, architect Bernard Maybeck, Morgan traveled to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Though she arrived in Paris to begin her studies in 1896, Morgan was refused admission for two years because the administration had never conceived of allowing women to study there. So she entered every prestigious architecture competition in Europe, and won most of them, forcing the hand of the administration. Morgan was eventually admitted in the field of architecture.
Upon her return to San Francisco, Morgan secured a position in the offices of architect John Galen Howard. Howard had opened an office in Berkeley after he had won the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Architectural Competition to design a master building plan for the University of California. Morgan drew the elevations and designed the decorative details for the Mining Building and also designed the Hearst Greek Theater.
Julia Morgan opened her own office in San Francisco in 1904. As Morgan's solo career developed, she began to secure a number of residential commissions in the Piedmont, Claremont and Berkeley neighborhoods. For many of these commissions Morgan favored a California vernacular style of architecture with distinct Arts and Crafts attributes, including exposed support beams, horizontal lines that blended into the landscape and extensive use of shingles, California redwood and earth tones. After the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, Morgan's office became extremely busy and one of her commissions was rebuilding Nob Hill's Fairmont Hotel. As the San Francisco population fled the earthquake-struck city, she also gained public commissions in the East Bay and her first was St. John's Presbyterian Church (which was later to become The Julia Morgan!)
A Chronological History of Julia Morgan
1872
January 20, Julia Morgan was born in San Francisco, the second child of
Charles Bill Morgan and Eliza Woodland Parmelee Morgan. The family grew to
include three brothers, Parmelee, Avery, Gardner, and one sister Emma
(married Hart North).
1890
Graduated from Oakland High School, enrolled in engineering course at
the University of California and became Kappa Alpha Theta.
1894
Graduated with B.S. in Civil Engineering, one of the first women to
have completed that degree, and met Bernard Maybeck during her last year at
Berkeley. She went on to work on some projects with Maybeck.
1896
As a result of a rumor that the great Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris was
possibly going to open examinations to women, with Maybeck's enthusiastic
encouragement, and with her family's financial endorsement, she set off for
Paris
1897
Unsuccessful in her first efforts to be accepted at the Beaux-Arts,
Julia Morgan gained favorable criticism from Jean Louis Pascal, 1866 Grand
Prix Winner and director of one of the choicest ateliers. Letters from
Maybeck, as well as from other important figures, urged the Beaux-Arts to
accept Morgan if she passed the examinations.
1898
November 9 brought the hard-earned acceptance as the first woman to
gain admission with a rank of 13th out of 392.
1899
In her two years of work in the Second Class, her reports list 17
mentions and 2 medals in mathematics, architecture, and design. At this
time, she politely refused Phoebe Apperson Hearst's offer of financial
assistance, secure in her own position and confident that she could justify
her family's support.
1900
In August, Julia Morgan was admitted to the First Class, where she
remained for 2 years with 8 mentions and 2 medals. She left when 30, as that
was the outside age permitted.
1901-1902
Julia Morgan worked as an architect for the first time and
completed at least one commission on her own, a building in Fontainebleau,
for which drawings and full specifications have been preserved.
1902-1903
Julia Morgan returned to Oakland, California and began doing
drafting for University Architect, John Galen Howard of Berkeley, where her
work included the Greek theater and the Hearst Memorial Mining Building.
1904
She opened her own offices in San Francisco: Julia Morgan, Architect.
Her first well-noted commission was Oakland's Mills College Bell Tower in
1904.
1906
Opened her new office in Merchants Exchange Building on California
Street, after she lost her original office in the fire resulting from the1906 earthquake. Quickly back on her feet, she was commissioned to lead the
structural repair of Fairmont Hotel, which she completed in time for the
one-year anniversary of both the fire and the originally scheduled grand
opening of the building.
1908
Work was started on St. John's Presbyterian Church in Berkeley,
commissioned in 1907 after the 1906 earthquake and fire had sent many San
Francisco residents across the bay looking for more stable ground.
1915
YWCAs were built in Oakland and San Jose. Also built at this time were
the Foothill Club in Saratoga, the Auditorium at Asilomar, the Potrero Hill
Settlement House in San Francisco, and Glide house in Berkeley.
1919
William Randolph Hearst proposed "something more comfortable" for his
hilltop at San Simeon, as a memorial to his mother, and as a setting for his
lifetime collection of art treasures. Julia Morgan had the integrity to keep
this building project going for the next 20 years. In the late 1930's, with
the architectural plans complete, Mr. Hearst's financial difficulties slowed
the construction effort at Hearst Castle, leaving it ultimately unfinished.
1920s
Julia Morgan was head architect at Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland,
and still working on projects with Maybeck, including the Phoebe A. Hearst
Memorial Gymnasium for Women at U.C. During this time, complications with a
mastoid (inner ear affliction) operation left Morgan's face unsymmetrical
and her gait uneven (causing her to be even more reclusive than ever
before.)
1923
The Berkeley Fire broke out. Many Morgan houses were lost, but many new
ones were built afterwards, with less use of redwood and shingles and more
concrete.
1930
Built Berkeley City Club on Durant Street in Berkeley. Also, she began
a new Hearst project, Wyntoon, which led to an exploratory trip to Europe
and resulted in the construction of several Bavarian-style village houses on
the McCloud River.
1950
Closed her San Francisco office.
1957
Julia Morgan died in February at the age of 85.
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