Julia Morgan: A Very Personal View Victoria Kastner will reveal the inspiring story of Julia Morgan's private life, as gleaned from the letters Julia exchanged with her family and friends, as well as from the observations she wrote in her private diaries. In this presentation, customized for the Hillside Club, Kastner will provide an especially in-depth and intimate view of this famous architect.
Ms. Kastner will be calling on the materials she researched for her just-released book: Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect (Chronicle Books, 2022), which provides the first in-depth look at Morgan’s fascinating private life as well as her remarkable professional career. Copies of this volume are in short supply, but we will have two copies available to acquire through a silent auction, and copies will be available to order from Builders Booksource that evening. They have generously offered to waive the normal 10.25% sales tax on orders placed at the Club. Get your order in that evening, and Victoria will sign a book plate for you after the talk. You can then fetch your copy from Builders Booksource (located on 4th Street in Berkeley) once they arrive, or they will ship for a nominal fee. We are so pleased that Julia Morgan is such a hot topic, but sorry you won't all be able to take a copy of this beautiful book home with you This Fireside Meeting will take place in-person at the Hillside Club as well as on a livestream. All in-person guests must present proof of vaccination and everyone will be required to wear masks except when eating and drinking. ​ Admission is free for Hillside Club members, and $16 for members of the public.
Vistoria Kastner has written the definitive trilogy on the history of William Randolph Hearst’s grand estate at San Simeon: Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House, with a foreword by George Plimpton; Hearst’s San Simeon: The Gardens and the Land, and Hearst Ranch: Family, Land, and Legacy, all published by Abrams Books. She co-authored The Beverly Hills Hotel: The First 100 Years with Robert Anderson; and Daily Pleasures: The French Ceramic Collection of MaryLou Boone for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She also penned a chapter on Bernard Maybeck’s magnificent Palace of Fine Arts for Jewel City: The Art of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, an exhibition held at San Francisco’s de Young Museum. To further explore the intriguing lives of William Randolph Hearst and Julia Morgan, she authored William Randolph Hearst: America’s Maverick Collector for Oxford University’s Journal of the History of Collections, and Morgan and Associates: Julia Morgan’s Architectural Practice as Design Metaphor for the AIA publication 20 on 20/20 Vision.