1928, Northern California, The Hearthstone
Redwood Forest Dyerville-Bull Creek State Park, Humboldt County
Julia Morgan
The ultimate Arts and Crafts structure, a consummation of the movement's fundamental desire to build in harmony with nature, can be seen in "the Hearthstone." Built in 1928 in a clearing at the Dyerville Flat redwood grove in Humboldt County in northern California, it consists of a huge rough-stone square chimney. On each side is an open fireplace, with redwood pillars set in concrete benches supporting a shake roof. A log marker is inscribed: "California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove presented to the State of California that these trees in the coming years shall minister to the destiny of mankind."
The project was begun in 1923, spearheaded by Dr. Mariana Bertola, president of the Federation of Women's Clubs. She had been the Mills College physician when Morgan was building on the campus there and had commissioned Morgan to build two houses in 1907, one to serve as her office and the other as rental suites in San Francisco. It is not surprising, therefore, that the group urged Morgan to design this monument commemorating the women's successful effort to save the redwood grove. By raising $50,000, they had managed to preserve about a thousand of these sequoias with heights averaging 350 feet and diameters of 15 feet or more; they purchased a tract through the Save-the-Redwoods League and lobbied to put through a state bond issue for matching funds, thereby doubling their effectiveness.
Morgan's monument symbolizes both the untouched nature of the forest and the federation's scrupulous protection of this heritage. It remains a functioning campsite for visitors to this one hundred acres of virgin redwood along the south fork of the Eel River. The dignity of the design and its human scale in the midst of such magnificent natural growth embody the Crafts ideal of creating structures appropriate to their sites (Boutelle 1988: 125-27, 260).
1929-30, East Bay, Berkeley Women's City Club
2315 Durant Ave., Berkeley
Julia Morgan
This is an imposing variation on the Italian Gothic theme with a strong institutional character (Gebhard, Winter and Sandweiss 1985: 275).
In 1929 the Women's City Club in Berkeley called on Morgan to design a building on their property near campus. They wanted reception and assembly rooms for educational and recreational use; a large ballroom-auditorium for dances, theatrical performances, and lectures; and a public dining room and smaller private dining spaces for special parties. They also asked for a library, a swimming pool, a beauty parlor, a tearoom, and several floors of residential accommodations.
Morgan designed a castlelike six-story building, attending to every detail, including the lights, furnishings, dishes, and linen. She chose the late medieval style because she loved it but also because she had available many skilled craftsmen trained at San Simeon who could carry out ornamental details. Her favorite material, reinforced concrete, was just right for the great arched doorway, for the vaulted or beamed ceilings, and for the grand staircase tying together the two public levels. The plan is designed around two interior courts, "the camellia" and "the rhododendron," which are wells of light and filled with colorful flowers or greenery all year round. Huge windows in the rooms and hallways and glass doors open to the courts bring in ample natural light.
The Women's City Club took special pride in "waterproofing" its members, and indeed it pioneered in having a special swimming membership at a time when no other facility in Berkeley was open year-round to women for lessons or for recreational swimming. It is clear from the plan that the 25-by-75-foot pool (labeled "plunge" by the architect) was to play a major role in club activities, since it was given the entire stretch of the building's east wing. Every aspect of pool life was considered and planned for: changing, swimming, watching, sunning.
(Note 11:The construction of the City Club pool proved to be quite a puzzle to Morgan's engineer in charge of the project. F. C. Stolte tossed and turned during a sleepless night after having spent a day trying to realize Morgan's plans for the wide-open span of concrete necessary to form the two massive arches that support the auditorium immediately above. Just about dawn he awoke with the formula absolutely clear to him. Stolte, interview with author, August 28, 1975.) Morgan's dressing rooms shine in comparison with most of the mildewed dungeons set aside for this purpose. The turquoise-tiled pool is naturally lighted by tall leaded windows; five triple-arched windows on the east side look onto a garden. Originally there was a skylight that opened to decks for sunbathing and table tennis; this has now been roofed over for a tea garden. A spectators' gallery runs the length of the south end. The use of ornamental lanterns designed by the architect makes swimming there an evening festivity as well as a day lighted one (Boutelle 1988: 124-25, 260).
1929, North Bay, J. H. Gwinn house
14 Martha St., Petaluma
Julia Morgan
This is one of Miss Morgan's most graceful houses. The many-gabled roof is especially well handled (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 249).
1930, Russian Hill, Mrs. Henry Marcus penthouse Apt.
1040 Lombard St., San Francisco
Julia Morgan
No comment (Boutelle 1988: 260).
1930-31, Peninsula, George Hearst house
401 El Cerrito, Hillsborough
Julia Morgan
A third-generation Hearst became a client of Morgan's when Hearst's oldest son, George, commissioned her to convert his house in Hillsborough, a few miles south of San Francisco, to a California version of the White House. To the existing structure Morgan added columns, wings, Palladian windows, and a circular driveway, plus a large pool. The effect was imposing enough to satisfy George Hearst's ambition of entertaining political visitors in style. Completed in 1931, this is another example of Morgan's ability to create a kind of stage setting, and the house, recently sold to its third owner, is still a showplace. There must have been an operatic instinct hidden behind her austere professional demeanor, something that responded to a similar chord in a family so often on stage.
Extensive remodeling (Boutelle 1988: 234, 261).
1930s, Pacific Heights, Selfridge house
2615 California St., San Francisco
Julia Morgan
Selfridge was the builder of 2603-13 California as well as this fine Stick Style mansion (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 88).
1929-30, Chinatown, YWCA Residence Hall
940-50 Powell St., San Francisco
Julia Morgan
Designed concurrently with the Clay Street Center, the Residence Hall is a severe, elongated Tuscan villa. Morgan was the official YWCA architect for the western region for some years (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 43).
A women's hotel called the Residence (1929-30) on Nob Hill in San Francisco was Morgan's last major building for the YWCA. Its formal exterior of brick with tile decoration is well suited to the Powell Street site; the building turns the corner to adjoin the Chinese YWCA, also designed by Morgan. Tall arched windows along the front illuminate formal public rooms, a paneled library with a fireplace imported from France, and a large assembly room. Originally located along the axis to the large formal living room (40 by 60 feet) were a central dining room and kitchen on one side and smaller dining and sitting rooms on the other. The living room's tall windows look out on Chinatown, and its long interior wall, which Morgan had decorated with a silk wall covering, now has a Chinese mural.
Morgan wanted this building to signify the importance of working women, and she sought to provide them with amenities that at times seemed excessive to the YWCA board. Her determination to provide private dining rooms and kitchenettes for the young women, so they could occasionally entertain friends for meals, met with opposition. "But these are minimum-wage girls," was the protest, "why spoil them?" To which the architect replied: "That's just the reason." (Note 8: Hettie Belle Marcus, in Suzanne B. Riess, ed., "The Julia Morgan Architectural History Project" (Berkeley: Bancroft Library, Regional Oral History Office, University of California, 1976), vol. 2. p. 138) (Boutelle 1988: 116, 118, 260).
1930, Chinatown, Chinese Community Center (formerly, Chinese YWCA)
965 Clay St., San Francisco
Julia Morgan
Designed concurrently with the Residence Hall, the Clay Street Center is more stylistically adventuresome and has an urbane yet residential scale and plan (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 43).
While the Residence was under construction, Morgan designed the adjoining Chinese YWCA down the hill behind it. That recreation center, designed for a complex program of sports and education, presents a discreet Chinese face to the street. Within are sequestered a quiet private garden, a bustling gymnasium, and many other facilities. The building varies from one to three stories on the steep slope, with its most conspicuous section the large gymnasium. This in itself is evidence of the acceptance by Chinese women of certain American traditions, as physical exercise for girls had not been acceptable to most earlier generations. Crenellation (with special tiles imported from China) and three towers with wooden spires give interest to the roofline. A cast stone arch over the double doors has leaded glazing, and above it is a circular cast-stone window with steel sash. Presently called the Chinese Community Center (although the YWCA sign remains to speak of its history) and sensitively remodeled on the interior by architect Philip Choy, the building continues to function as it was designed, though now serving both men and women (Boutelle 1988: 118, 260).
1930, Western Addition, Western Addition YWCA (formerly, Japanese YWCA)
1830 Sutter St., San Francisco
Julia Morgan
Morgan designed the Japanese YWCA (1930) on Sutter Street in San Francisco to recall elements of Japanese culture. The rooflines, the stone wall and gates surmounted by iron lanterns, and the interior details, especially the cutout screen over the auditorium stage, all suggest Japan. After the demographic and economic upheavals of World War II led to a change in the composition of the neighborhood, the building was renamed the Western Addition YWCA, which it remains today (Boutelle 1988: 118, 260).
1935, North Bay, A. Agius house
210 West St., Petaluma
Julia Morgan
This is a good example of minimalist Mediterranean Revival (Woodbridge and Woodbridge 1992: 248).
