Julia Morgan Archetect Essay, Research Paper

Julia Morgan

A. A book was written about Julia Morgan because she was the first woman licensed architect. She lived from 1872 until 1957. Many people at that time thought that women couldn t do many jobs, especially to be an architect, but Julia proved them wrong. She was the main architect for places like the huge Hearst s Castle and many YWCA s (Young Women s Christian Association.) Julia has encouraged women to become architects, and now there are many women architects, but Julia is still the most famous one. She always designed houses and buildings in California, so if no books were written about Julia Morgan, then people who live far away from California might not know who she is.

B. I admire Julia Morgan for many things. First, if it weren t for her there might not even be women architects. She brought a woman s point of view to this profession, and I think she contributed unique ideas because she was a woman. I admire the houses that Miss Morgan , (as she was called) designed because I ve seen some of them, and they have interesting features on them, like tall, arched windows, and are really beautiful. I liked how Julia Morgan showed her courage and stood up to people who thought women couldn t be architects. I admire her determination to go into a career that was, up until then, mainly for men, and then proving she could be as good as them (if not better). In addition, Julia Morgan hired a lot of women to work for her as drafters and artists, and she always encouraged students interested in her profession. She was a hero to women because she worked for what she believed in.

C. Julia Morgan had an interesting life and here are a couple of important events that happened . In 1898, Julia went from the University of California to study art is Paris, France. Julia studied very important kinds of art, and when she was there her brother came to study art and they shared an apartment. Also, in Paris she studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts), and she won a competition by designing a palace theater. A couple years later, back in San Francisco, California the 1906 earthquake occurred and her small office was knocked down along with almost every house in San Francisco. Julia was hired to rebuild houses that fell down in the earthquake, and she had to rebuild her office. She got all the jobs done that she needed to do, all though it was a lot of work. Next, she built Hearst s Castle in San Simeon, (about 200 miles south of San Francisco. With all the things that she built there: main house, three guest houses, pools, and much more, it took from 1920-1929 to finish it all. William Randolph Hearst was the one who had it built, and he was always changing his mind and kept asking Miss Morgan to build more things. William s mother had been Julia s friend and she had a close friendship with the Hearst family. Another place she designed was the church, Chapel of the Chimes. It took her five years to build it in Oakland, but it is a great church. It has a lot of buildings and the rooms are nicely done. She worked up until she was almost 80 years old.

D. One difficulty that Julia Morgan faced while trying to accomplish her goal to be an architect was getting people to believe that women could be architects. She not only had to get beyond that, but she had to get people to want her to build something. At first, it was only her friends and family that had Miss Morgan build places, but when everyone else saw that the work was great, they hired her. Julia s designs were different from anyone else’s, but her designs helped convince people that gender shouldn t make any difference when it comes to hiring an architect. She worked hard all her life, and we are very lucky to live in an area where we can visit and study the buildings she helped create.

Julia Morgan once said my buildings will be my legacy … they will speak for me long after I m gone.