Book Review
Julia Morgan Architecture of Dreams
Ginger Wadsworth. Lerner Publications Company, 1990. 121 pages.
Reviewed by Mayra Salas in the fall of 2009.
The book is a biography of a talented woman in the architecture field during the late 1800s and early 1900s. In this book Ginger Wadsworth targets young women who have an interest in fields that are male dominated. The book is written in an amusing readable style, making it more approachable and appealing to a younger audience.
There are ten chapters in the book in which Ginger Wadsworth described the stages of Julia Morgan’s life. Chapter One, A Privileged Child, talks about Julia Morgan’s childhood in which her family was often pampered by her grandfather’s money; Julia grew up in a wealthy neighborhood with servants, and other luxuries. This chapter also talks about Julia’s early education and her brilliant scholastic abilities, and her announcement that she was going to attend college.
Chapter Two, From Berkeley to Paris, talks about her experience in her early college years; being a woman taking science classes which were subjects dominated by males. In this chapter Julia Expresses for the first time to her parents that she wants to become an Architect. This chapter also talks about Julia’s decision to move to France and the struggles she went thru to become the first woman accepted in the architecture school of Beaux-Arts.
Chapter Three, Getting Started, in this chapter Julia returns to California as a celebrity in her home town and she opens her own firm at her parent’s carriage behind the house in which she designed many structures such as the Greek Theater at the University of California and others.
Chapter Four, An Office of Her Own, talks about the earthquake on April 18th 1906 where Julia had the opportunity to rebuild the Fairmont Hotel in which her reputation was established for building structures that were resistant to earthquakes. This chapter also talks about the reopening of her office in the Merchant Exchange Building in San Francisco, where it became her office for the rest of her career.
Chapter Five, The Client’s Architect, in this chapter Julia earned the title “The Client’s Architect” because she aloud her clients to determined the look of the building. In this chapter Julia was running one of the most prestigious Architecture Firms of the West Coast and at the time the largest in the United States headed by a woman.
Chapter Six, Making a Lasting Mark, in this chapter Julia was commission to build a national chain of YWCAs.
Chapter Seven, Building a Dream, Julia designs La Casa Grande for William Randolph Hearts, the richest man in America at the time. La Casa Grande was similar to a Cathedral with gardens and pools that were linked by “plan of walks and flower beds or landscape features…. That will bring all…. Together into a harmonious whole” (page76).
Chapter Ten, The Last Chapter, Julia decides to close her office where she had been since 1907, she was 79 years old. Julia died on February 2, 1957, when she was 85 years old.
