Festival celebrates work of architect Julia Morgan
SALUTE ORGANIZER John Welborne with “Miss Julia Morgan” (impersonated by Betty Marvin, Oakland Historic Preservation Planner).
Learn about California’s first female architect during the statewide Julia Morgan 2012 Festival, organized by the Landmarks California Committee, which continues through Fri., Nov. 16.
Morgan’s special connection to the YWCA, for whom she designed more than 30 buildings, will be discussed on Sun., Nov. 11 at the Harbor Area YWCA, a 1918 Craftsman building she designed at 437 Ninth St. in San Pedro. The program will include a panel presentation, a tour of the facility and a reception with light refreshments.
The idea for the festival was promoted by John Welborne, Windsor Square, member of the Landmarks California Committee. He said the celebration focuses on the life and work of Morgan, the first woman architect to be admitted to the L’Ecole National Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1899.
Julia Morgan
She was also California’s first licensed female architect, one of the first female civil engineering graduates of UC Berkeley, and the creator of more than 700 structures in California alone.
Morgan is best known for her work as the lead architect on the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. That work spanned the years 1919 to 1947, ended only by William Randolph Hearst’s declining health.
The Los Altos apartments at 4117 Wilshire Blvd. contains a two-story suite of rooms Hearst also had Morgan design for his pied a terre.
Conceived during World War I by the YWCA’s War Work Council as a Hostess House for “women friends and relatives of the army and navy,” the San Pedro facility soon became a Hospitality House, providing food, shelter and recreation facilities for young women working in the area. Throughout the building’s 90-year history, it has provided resources for women, including educational courses, childcare, health and fitness information, and support for battered women.
Free event parking is available across the street from the YWCA near the northeast corner of 9th St. and Pacific Ave in the parking lot behind O’Reilly Auto Parts. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Cost is $10 for LAC members and YWCA Harbor Area members, $15 for non-members.
By Sondi Sepenuk
Category: Real Estate
