One of the best things I hear on our Oakland food tours is when a guest tells us they enjoyed the history shared. Yes, they enjoy the food, too. But hearing that a guest appreciates learning a little bit more about our Oakland and East Bay history really puts a smile on my face.

On practically all of our food tours, we share Julia Morgan history. Never heard of her? To be honest, I’m not surprised. I had taken an architecture class in college, but it wasn’t until I moved here to the Bay Area that I really got to know who this amazing woman was. I often joke on our tours that if she were a man, she would be as famous as Frank Lloyd Wright. To be honest, she should be. Even The New York Times recently admitted that they overlooked this amazing woman by never reported her death in their obituaries. I think that after you read a bit more about her, you’ll agree that she’s a woman whose life was fit to print.

Born on January 20, 1872, Julia Morgan was born to a prominent East Coast family who moved to San Francisco when her father wanted to speculate mines and oil, like many others looking to discover wealth during the mid-1800s. The family moved to Oakland when Julia was only two years old. From there she graduated from Oakland High School and then attended the University of California – Berkeley where, as many of you who had the pleasure of being guided by either Mariella, Katie or Jennika on our Rockridge Ice Cream & Gelato Tour probably told you, Julia was a fellow member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

During her senior year, she enrolled as the only woman in an engineering class lectured by architect Bernard Maybeck, who would famously build the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exhibition. She was able to distinguish herself to be then mentored by Maybeck who encouraged her to continue her studies at the prestigious École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he also attended.

Julia Morgan as a student at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris / Photo Credit: Robert E. Kennedy Library – Cal Poly

At this time, the school had never allowed a woman to study architecture so it took Julia Morgan three times in order to be admitted, certainly not because of lack of skill. Thankfully, the school received pressure from a union of French women artists and she went on to be the first woman to receive a certificate in architecture from the school. 

Upon her return from Paris, Julia Morgan returned to California to start her career as the first female licensed architect in the State of California. She would work on such projects as the Hearst Greek Theater on the University of California Berkeley campus and the bell tower on Oakland’s Mills College campus. When the 1906 earthquake devastated San Francisco, the shock was felt all the way on the East Bay, including Mills College. Many of the buildings on campus were damaged, but not Morgan’s bell tower. It survived unscathed, proof that Morgan was as experienced in reinforced concrete.

Because of this, she was also hired by the owners of the famous Fairmont Hotel on San Francisco’s Nob Hill to rebuild this historic landmark after it was heavily destroyed from the resulting fire. Not a bad feat for a women, who at the time, didn’t even have the right to vote. Remember, the 19th Amendment wouldn’t be passed for another 14 years. Now, I call that an original “lean-in” moment!

Julia Morgan would go on to develop more than 700 projects just within the state of California alone, including what is widely considered her masterpiece: Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. Think about it: William Randolph Hearst, businessman, politician and owner of the nation’s largest newspaper chain and media company (hello! the inspiration for Orson Wells’ classic Citizen Kane , considered the g reatest film of all time by the American Film Institute ) – pretty much the most powerful and influential man of his time – hires Julia Morgan, a woman, to build his Xanadu. He hires Julia Morgan to build the main building and guest houses for his retreat he called La Cuesta Encantada – Spanish for “Enchanted Hill.”

Hearst Castle / Photo Credit: Hearst Castle®/California State Parks.

Julia Morgan was in charge of nearly every aspect of construction. According to the Hearst Castle historians,  over the course of the next 28 years, Morgan supervised nearly every aspect of construction, including the purchase of Spanish antiquities to Icelandic moss to reindeer for the Castle’s zoo.

Not only is The New York Times guilty of not recognizing this amazing architect, but also shamefully Julia Morgan’s peers. While she died on February 2, 1957, she does not receive the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal until 2014. That’s 57 years after her death … and coincidentally the same year I started our tours.

While she is deservingly the first female architect to receive the Institute’s highest honor, it is a shame that no other female architects have been recognized. 

We are so privileged to have so much Julia Morgan history on our tours. Sometimes I’d like to think that we planned it that way. But honestly, it’s because she’s had such an influence in California and especially the East Bay. Practically every nook and cranny in Oakland and the East Bay is touched by her.

While walking along College Avenue on our Rockridge Neighborhood Heritage Food Tour , we have the opportunity to stop by the College Avenue United Presbyterian Church, a church that Julia Morgan built in 1917. It is a terrific example of the arts and crafts style of building popular to our area during the time. We see her love of California native plants with the addition of pinecones surrounding the main rose window, an early indicator of the First Bay style of architecture she would develop with her mentor Bernard Maybeck.

College Avenue United Prebyterian Church in the Rockridge neighborhood of Oakland.

Our Oakland Sweets, Spirits and The Beyond Tour is truly a celebration of her work. On this tour, you visit the Chapel of the Chimes, a columbarium that I like to describe as “a Gothic library where all of the shelved books are urns.” Julia Morgan built the chapel during the early 1920s, at around the same time she was building Hearst Castle in San Simeon. As you walk through its symmetrical and awe-inspiring chapels, you feel a sense of peace and solice amid its grandeur. It’s truly one of those hidden gems that many food tour guests, most especially locals, get blown away by. My husband even left our tour saying that it’s a place that even he may want to spend eternity.

And on our Grand Lake Cultural Cuisine Food Tour , we pass by the “Great Performances” mural that was painted in 1984 depicting Oakland’s vibrant music, arts and cultural icons of the time. This mural completed by artists Daniel Galvez & Keith Sklar features notables such as famed author Jack London, Oakland Symphony Orchestra conductor Calvin Simmons and, of course, our beloved Julia Morgan. (She’s found all the way to the right.)

“Great Performances” mural at the I-580 underpass at Grand Avenue

Julia Morgan is truly a treasured gem and we hope that more people get to know her as we share her story on her food tours. I’ve put together this brief two-and-a-half minute video celebrating her work and her life. In fact I filmed it near her gravesite, where as a new addition to our Oakland Sweets, Spirits and The Beyond Tour , we’ll be visiting along with the famous (and infamous) eternal residents of Millionaires Row. Enjoy!

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