In many of her structures, Morgan pioneered the aesthetic use of reinforced concrete, a material that proved to have superior seismic performance in the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes.

[6] Julia Morgan was the first woman to receive the American Institute of Architects highest award, the AIA Gold Medal, posthumously in 2014.

Her mother, Eliza, grew up as the indulged daughter of Albert O. Parmelee, a cotton trader and millionaire who financially supported the couple when they moved to San Francisco.

In New York, Julia met her older cousin Lucy Thornton, who was married to successful architect Pierre LeBrun.

One of the engineering lecturers of her senior year was Bernard Maybeck, an architect who designed buildings that Morgan admired for their respect for the surrounding topography and environment.

[13] Maybeck mentored Morgan, along with her classmates Arthur Brown, Jr., Edward H. Bennett and Lewis P. Hobart, in architecture at his Berkeley home.

[13] He encouraged Morgan to continue her studies at the prestigious École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris where he had distinguished himself.

After graduating in 1894, Morgan gained a year of work experience building with Maybeck, then traveled to Paris in 1896 to prepare for the Beaux-Arts entrance exam.

"[12][17] In her time at the Beaux-Arts, Morgan interacted with members of the Union des femmes peintres et sculpteurs, a group focused on advancing women in art.

[17][19] After more than a year of further study, tutored by François-Benjamin Chaussemiche, a winner of the Prix de Rome, she finally passed the entrance exams in the Architecture Program, placing 13th out of 376 applicants, and was duly admitted.

[12][17][20] She stayed in Paris long enough to collaborate with Chaussemiche on a project for Harriet Fearing, an ex–New Yorker who contracted for a "grand salon" design for her residence in Fontainebleau.

[2] Upon her return from Paris, Morgan began working for San Francisco architect John Galen Howard, who was supervising the University of California Master Plan.

In April 1904, Julia Morgan completed her first reinforced concrete structure, El Campanil,[23] the 72-foot bell tower at Mills College, which is located across the bay from San Francisco.

Two years later, El Campanil survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake unscathed, which helped build her reputation and launch her career.

The devastation of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 provided her with the opportunity to design numerous homes, churches, offices, and educational facilities.

[25] An important project was the redesign of the landmark Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco after its interior was severely damaged by fire after the earthquake of 1906.

Her work on restoring the Fairmont in less than a year brought her a national reputation as "a superb engineer, an innovative designer and architect, and a dedicated professional.

It is located at the southwest corner of Broadway and 11th Streets on a city block in Downtown Los Angeles, awaiting adaptive reuse.

[27] The project proved to be her largest and most complex, as Hearst's vision for his estate grew ever grander over the decades of planning and construction.

It was located a day's horseback ride inland from Hearst Castle, next to the Mission San Antonio de Padua near Jolon, California.

Morgan helped draft parts of the UC Berkeley campus under John Galen Howard, but the Sather Tower was not her design.

[10] Ransome's undermining of Morgan's ability led to less trust in her work and praise veiled in gendered rhetoric at the time.

[30][31] Morgan also designed the original gymnasium and pool, since replaced by the Tea Shop and Suzanne Adams Plaza,[30] the first reinforced concrete structure on the west coast.

The beautiful Julia Morgan building is owned and operated by the Ladies Protection and Relief Society,[32] one of California’s first philanthropic organizations, established in 1853.

She designed the World War I YWCA Hostess House in Palo Alto, built in 1918 and later to become the site of the MacArthur Park Restaurant[35] Some of her residential projects, most of them located in the San Francisco Bay Area, are ultimate bungalows.

In 1908, Morgan designed the residence of James Henry Pierce at 1650 The Alameda in San Jose, which features rare California timber.

One, designed by Morgan in 1915, is the "Little Cottage of River Winds" at 26184 Carmelo Street at Carmel Point, outside the Carmel-by-the-Sea city limits.

It was built in 1940, in the Minimal Traditional architectural style for Dr. Emma Whitman Pope, who was a friend from Morgan's undergraduate years at the UC Berkeley.

[41] One of the few public awards she accepted was the University of California, Berkeley, honorary Doctor of Laws degree, its highest award, conferred upon her on May 15, 1929, with the following personal tribute: "distinguished alumna of the University of California, artist and engineer; designer of simple dwellings and of stately homes, of great buildings nobly planned to further the centralized activities of her fellow citizens; architect in whose works harmony and admirable proportions bring pleasure to the eye and peace to the mind.

[44] In 1999, a Mediterranean Revival residence originally built in 1918 for Charles Goethe of Sacramento was renamed the Julia Morgan House.