Sunday, March 21, 3-4pm
Free Virtual Event, Register Here
The Beach House and Santa Monica Conservancy present a special commemoration of architect Julia Morgan, California’s first licensed woman architect. Join Morgan scholar Karen McNeill, Ph.D. for her talk entitled Julia Morgan and the Men Who Built Hearst Castle. A leading expert on Julia Morgan, Dr. McNeill's work focuses on women and gender in the architectural profession as well as how Progressive Era women used the built environment to expand their roles society as consumers, reformers, educators, and professionals. Dr. McNeill has published multiple articles on the subject, with another about the Paris years due next fall.

Noted for her collaboration with William Randolph Hearst to create Hearst Castle in San Simeon, Morgan left a legacy of more than 700 projects in her nearly five decades of practice. Posthumously awarded the AIA’s highest honor, a Gold Medal, her brilliant and pioneering work continues to gain public recognition. At the Beach House, Morgan designed the Guest House and pool, which comprise the site’s historic core. Dr. McNeil’s work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Autry National Center, the Bancroft Library, and the University of California Humanities Research Institute. Beyond her work on Julia Morgan, she has taught history and architectural history at colleges and universities in the San Francisco Bay Area and has been involved in historic preservation. She is currently Senior Family Historian at Ascent Private Capital Management of U.S Bank and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, supporting the past, present, and future of women in architecture and engineering.