Julia Morgan

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(b. San Francisco, California 1872; d. 1957)

Born in San Francisco in 1872, Julia Morgan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with an engineering degree before she travelled to Paris, where she struggled successfully to become the first woman accepted in to the architecture section of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts.

California's first female architect, Morgan began her career in collaboration with Bernard Maybeck on several buildings in Berkeley. She also worked for John Galen Howard for a short time before establishing her own practice. In the architectural boom following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Morgan's career flourished. Her commissions included houses, churches, clubs, banks, schools, hospitals, and stores.

Morgan's buildings are distinguished by her client centered approach to design, her use of locally available materials, and her integration of the varied architectural traditions of the West with the vocabulary of a Beaux-Arts background. Although Morgan's buildings do not reflect one definitive style, they all exhibit a fine attention to detail and a craftsmanlike quality of construction.

Her popularity as an architect can be attributed to her reputation for meticulous craftsmanship and her ability to mold a project to the emotional and budgetary needs of the client. More than seven hundred buildings attested to her skill.

After forty-five years in practice, during which she shared all her profits with her atelier-like staff, she closed her office and had her records destroyed.* She insisted that the buildings should speak for her, adding that "architecture is a visual, not a verbal art."

References
Adolf K Placzek. Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects. Vol. 3. London: The Free Press, 1982. ISBN 0-02-925000-5. NA40.M25. p238.

*  Note: In apparent contradiction to the above reference, we have received the following message from a librarian at Cal Poly, SLO:

"Morgan retained what she considered to be her best work. Her papers -- including family correspondence, personal journals, business records, sketchbooks, architectural drawings, photographs, and memorabilia are housed in the Special Collections Department of the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo."

See our link below to the "The Julia Morgan Collection".

"Julia Morgan in Chinatown", by Jill Jackson, ArchitectureWeek No. 139, 2003.0326, pC1.

Ginger Wadsworth. Julia Morgan, Architect of Dreams. Lerner Publications Company, August 1990. ISBN 0-8225-4903-4.   Available at Amazon.com

Sara Holmes Boutelle, with Richard Barnes, Photographer. Julia Morgan, Architect. Abbeville Press, August 1995. ISBN 0-7892-0084-8.   Check for it at Amazon.com

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The Julia Morgan Collection — special collections, university library, Cal Poly, SLO.

Julia Morgan — biography, walking tour, links, at UC Berkeley.

Julia Morgan at Archiplanet — Find, add, and edit info at the all-buildings collaboration

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