Rad Women Vol. 1
If you’ve ever wandered through the terraced gardens in Oakland’s Chapel of Chimes and sat in that spectral library of book-shaped urns, then you have already worshipped at the altar of Julia Morgan. The San Francisco native was the first female architect licensed in California. Over her lengthy career she designed more than 700 buildings for the Golden State alone, displaying an eclectic style in everything from Chinatown’s YWCA to Hearst Castle. But it all started with a bell tower designed in 1904 for Mills College to abet the dreams of other women — at a fraction of what her male counterparts would have demanded. Morgan is an ideal choice to inaugurate the series “Kick-Ass Ladies of San Francisco.” And who better qualified to lead the discussion than author and architectural historian Mark Wilson, who has been teaching about her for more than 30 years? Tonight’s program “Julia Morgan: Architect of Beauty” celebrates the softcover release of Wilson’s 2007 book by the same name and delves into the First Bay Tradition, a nature-based design philosophy that guided much of Morgan’s local work.
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