Born In San Francisco in 1872, a time when women just didn’t do a man’s job, Julia Morgan was to embark on a life that would be a constant battle to prove that a woman could not only do a job as well as any man, but she could do it better. Because of the need to constantly prove herself, her life would become a parade of first: the first woman to complete a civil engineering degree at the University of California and the first woman to study architecture at Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to name a few. Since the Ecole had never allowed a woman admittance before, it was only after two years of winning European architectural contests that they recognized her outstanding talents and finally relented.
After her return to San Francisco, she took a position with the Berkely-based, architectural firm of John Galen Howard, winner of the Phoebe Apperson Hearst Architectural Competition. While in his employ, Julia had a hand in designing the Mining Building and the Hearst Greek Theater.
In 1904, Julia opened her own office in San Francisco. Two years later the city was ravaged by earthquake and fire and Julia’s business boomed during the rebuilding of the City By the Bay. Favoring the California style of architecture (open beams, lines that blended with nature) and the use of natural materials such as redwood, she undertook such projects as Nob Hill’s Fairmont Hotel and St. John’s Presbyterian Church, which would eventually become the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts.
Her crowning achievement came in 1919 at the age of 47, when William Randolph Hearst commissioned her to design and build a memorial to his mother and a museum of sorts to house his art treasurers at San Simeon. For the next 28 years, Julia worked on the project that was to become known worldwide as the Hearst Castle http://www.hearstcastle.com. Many pieces (Spanish antiques, Icelandic Moss, reindeer for the zoo, doors, windows, statuary, sometimes entire rooms, etc) were imported from Europe and sometimes created by master European craftsmen. Julia, who took a very personal interest in the project, designed most of the buildings, the intricate landscaping which she painstakingly integrated with the buildings, the famous Neptune Pool and the indoor Roman Pool, and the zoo and shelters for the animals herself. Only when the Hearst money ran out did the project come to a halt, leaving the castle unfinished.
Among her other accomplishments, and often done while she oversaw the building of the Hearst Castle, Julia also designed: Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland, Phoebe A. Hearst Memorial Gymnasium for Women at U.C. , Berkeley City Club on Durant Street in Berkeley, and several Bavarian-style village houses on the McCloud River. In all, Julia was the architect for over 700 California buildings.
A recluse for most of her life, due in part to an inner ear infection that disfigured her face, in 1950, at the age of 78, Julia closed her architectural offices for good. She died 7 years later.
Blessings,
Diva Elizabeth

Patry Francis is an International Thriller Writers member with a new release, THE LIAR’S DIARY, and is unable to interact with readers at this time, as she is healing from cancer. There is an in-depth article on my website:
You’ll also find a listing of the 300 authors who are blogging on her behalf today. I’m privileged to be among them. Blessings,Diva Vicki