Morgan, Julia (1872–1957)
October 28, 2009 | In: Architectural History
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An architect practicing in the early twentieth century, Julia Morgan completed nearly seven hundred buildings. Her work did not reflect a particular style, but responded to site conditions and client needs. Designing with function as her priority, she also had a concern for details, light, color, and texture (Boutelle, 1988). Many of her buildings displayed Renaissance, classical, vernacular, Arts and Crafts, Spanish, and Native American references.
Born in San Francisco, Morgan began her architectural education at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1890. While studying for an engineering degree, she met the architect/professor Bernard Maybeck. He encouraged her interest in architecture, and she worked in his office for a year following her graduation. She moved to Paris in 1896 and soon after she was admitted to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, becoming the first woman matriculated into the architecture program. She returned to the United States in 1902 to begin her own practice.
As diverse as her architectural language, her repertoire of projects varied from domestic to institutional to commercial. Her first projects included university commissions such as a bell tower and gymnasium for Mills College in Oakland, followed by a Sorority House and the Baptist Divinity School for Berkeley. From churches such as the First Swedish Baptist Church and Saint John’s Presbyterian Church, to markets (Sacramento Public Market) and hospitals (Kings Daughters Home), she controlled the design of every project. Well known for her numerous buildings for the YWCA, the most prominent are in Oakland (1913–1915), Honolulu (1926–1927) and San Francisco (1929–1930).
In her association with the Hearst family she produced two celebrated houses. Morgan first finished the Hacienda del Pozo de Verona for Phoebe Hearst before designing a mansion complex on the southern coast of California for media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Named San Simeon, the cottages were completed in a style described by Hearst as ‘Renaissance style from southern Spain’ (Boutelle, 1988, p. 177). The main building, fashioned after a church, was designed to display Hearst’s collection of paintings and art objects.
Most of Morgan’s architectural drawings were destroyed when she closed her office in 1950, although some of her sketches from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts still exist (Boutelle, 1988). This sketch dated December 3, 1901 was a preliminary design for her final Ecole competition. The program called for a theater in a palace. Receiving a ‘first mention’ for the project, the sketch demonstrates tremendous skill in beaux-arts composition and decoration. It represents an artistic control over ink and wash to achieve a complete impression. Details and ornament seem to have been thoroughly explored even though the swags and balustrades have been rendered as a series of squiggly
‘w’s.’ It displays qualities that may be considered simultaneously precise and imprecise. Not necessarily a paradox, the sketch represents the beaux-arts technique of explaining the totality while providing minimal articulation of detail. From a distance, the sketch appears complete with shadow and reflection. All parts have been included – even the draping of the doorway curtains. On closer inspection, the doubled lines show the apparent search for the appropriate curve. These lines stop short of intersection exhibiting the sketch’s preparatory quality. The pilasters have been indicated by simple horizontal and vertical marks and appear to list to the left showing her hurried lines. Being both precise and imprecise, this sketch seeks interpretation.
