"Architecture is a visual, not a verbal art"
1872 - 1957
Julia Morgan was born in San Francisco in 1872. By 1900, she became the first female architect from California. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with an engineering degree.
From there, she studied architecture in Paris, France at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. She also became the first woman accepted into this school. At the school she gained a strong architectural background and return to California to practice her skill. Although she studied Western Architectural styles in France and was in an environment of Western Architecture, she doesn't display a certain distinctive style of her own. Throughout most of her practice, she varied her styles with her usefulness to produce.
Morgan remained in California for some time as she began practicing her career in Berkeley. She collaborated with Bernard Maybeck at the start of her career. Under Maybeck, Morgan assisted in the design and creation of the Hearst Castle, which was the commission to earn her fame. She then became known for her use of reinforced concrete - which was rarely used in the United States back then. Her architectural practice was later demanded as the San Francisco Earthquake devastated the city in 1906. At this same time, she opened her own private practice. Morgan is responsible for many of the houses schools, hospitals, and churches that architecturally define San Francisco today.
Morgan's work displays the properties of providing for the people. More often than not, Morgan structured her designs and buildings to fit the needs and resources of her clients. This is her usefulness to produce. For example, many of her Berkeley projects include the use of cost-effective local materials and designs. Throughout her entire career, she generally used the same tactics to design buildings. By the end of her career, she would design over seven hundred buildings, exhibiting the same client-centered properties.
The uniqueness of Julia Morgan is how she concluded her career. Historians at first believe she tried to erase any trace of her career; almost as if she wanted only her buildings to be her remnants. Therefore, with her office closed and her records demolished, Morgan concludes that "architecture is a visual, not a verbal art." In essence, her buildings represent her career and records are not necessary. However, some of her work is kept in the Special Collections Department of the Robert E. Kennedy Library at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.