Designed to last

In addition to Peter Norman Day, 9 October is also Ada Lovelace Day, when we honor women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). In years past, I’ve written about such brilliant minds as Grace Hopper (whose celebration I attended just two weeks ago); Nobel Laureate (for physiology/medicine) Rosalyn Sussman; Hedy Lamarr (who developed the radio frequency hopping system that underpins mobile telephony); research chemist Marie M. Daly; IDEO designer Barbara Beskind; and Joan Struthers Curran and Beatrice Shilling, engineers whose work contributed to our victory in the Second World War.

This year I’m branching out on the engineering theme, and giving you the noted American architect of the 20^th Century, Julia Morgan. Born in San Francisco and raised in Oakland, Morgan was the first woman to be licensed as an architect in the State of California, following studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and l’École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris (where she was the first female student).

After a stint with another architectural firm, Morgan opened her own practice, embracing the Arts and Crafts style. She ran her firm in the atelier style, and was exceptionally generous in teaching those who worked with her. She designed a number of structures for the women-only Mills College and several YMCA buildings (including the one in Pasadena, where I learned to swim).

Morgan is perhaps best known for a single client, being the architect for William Randolph Hearst’s mansion at San Simeon, on the Central California Coast; we know it as Hearst’s Castle. Morgan had to incorporate a whole range of styles and architectural pieces that Hearst had picked up in his travels. Frankly, I do not find it particularly inviting as a result, but there are certainly some spectacular elements, notably the truly spectacular Neptune Pool.

But she was exceptionally prolific. Here are some other buildings she designed:

The Berkeley City Club:

The Ladies Protection and Relief Society’s The Heritage nursing home (one of only a few pre-WWII buildings to survive the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989):

Fairmont Hotel:

Morgan got the job of redesigning the hotel, which was damaged in the 1906 earthquake. She was a pioneer in the deployment of earthquake-resistant materials, including reinforced concrete.

Chinatown YWCA:

Girton Hall (UC Berkeley):

The Sausalito Women's Club:

And those are just a few from around the Bay Area.

We don’t know much about Morgan’s personal life; architecture seems to have consumed everything for her. In the span of her career before her retirement in 1951, she designed hundreds of public and private structures, taking commissions from the ultra-wealthy to help subsidize her work for organizations serving women and minorities. Her legacy is somewhat localized, but truly impressive.