Julia Morgan, Arch.Tour-Elmwood Park & Claremont Ct.,Berkeley

(Photo above JM in Paris, 1900, Cathedral Notre Dame in the background. For more information about JM, read here and see the photos below.)

We're meeting outside the Julia Morgan Theater on College Ave. at Derby St., our first stop on the tour. (Optional stop after the tour at nearby, Nabolom Bakery - Pizzeria.)

(Along the way we'll see Bernard Maybeck's, First Church of Christ Scientist, a Nat'l Landmark site. Directly across the street is Julia Morgan's 1918 Baptist Theological Seminary. Built of brick to resemble the Ashmolean Library of Oxford. Britain's first public museum and the world's first university museum. note. The Seminary's windows and Tudor details recall the period when the Baptist Church was founded.)

Morgan graduated UC in 1894 with a degree in Civil Engineering, one of her specializations was structural engineering. (This benefited her clients greatly, as was seen after the 06' earthquake in her still standing buildings.)
She arrived in Paris in 1896. A few years later it was reported in the San Francisco Call: Paris, Oct.30,1902 - Julia Morgan of San Francisco passed the examination with honors at the Architectural section of the School of Fine Arts, Ecole de Beaux Arts, Paris France. The first woman to do so. Ironically one of the greatest architects in history, was made to wait two years, taking entrance exams before admission.

By the end of her 45 yr. career she had received over 700 commissions. It was said, "Her rational approach to home design and the public success of her large commissions gave Julia Morgan a solid reputation. It also won her the confidence of her clients. With the hard work, genius, inspiration and true artistic and historic perception to create memorable works.
Over the course of her career, Morgan designed nearly one hundred buildings across California and the nation for women’s organizations. Her commissions included social and civic clubs for women; academic, residential, and recreational buildings; primary