“Bread crumbs”(perhaps how you got here)

(Originally posted January 5th, 2009)

Swimming Pool, Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California.
 Julia Morgan, architect (1919 f.)

The Hearst Castle is certainly Julia Morgan's greatest work; every line and surface speaks of her desire to please her client, one of the most outstanding characteristics of her work. The design work was done in the wake of art nouveau, at the time when it was not entirely clear that art moderne, with its more severe, straighter lines would be the successor. The choice of color, shape, proportion, and texture is quite pleasing. (Interestingly, I think it turned out that, like much of the Hearst Castle, the pool was hard to maintain. It was built for show, not for lasting use.)

More important, however, is the way in which the Hearst Castle speaks of the opulence and extravagance of the ruling class of the 1920's in America. One can see similar works from the "Gilded Age" of a generation earlier at places like Newport, Rhode Island, or near Asheville, North Carolina (I'm sure it would be matter of only a few minutes' work to produce a list of the grandest and most architecturally excellent buildings of the great eras of the American plutocracy).

It is instructive to think that the lobby of almost any large American corporation's home office (to say nothing of the waiting rooms of specialized surgeons) is decorated in fashion which, if it were employed on our schools, would cause a scandal. There would be screams of "waste ." The chief executives of companies such as Lehman Brothers have, within recent years, been compensated to the tune of millions of dollars (the dollars still being in their pockets); yet the teachers of our young children, whose pay is often insufficient to support a family, must pay for their teaching supplies out of their own pockets. Surely, if we seek beauty in our architecture, it would be better to recognize that the teachers are plainly far more valuable to society than the haughty thieves that steal, rape, and plunder America's natural resources, know-how, and labor.

I learned to swim in the Berkeley Women's City Club - a building designed by Julia Morgan. I can think of many wonderful works that she created for the rich. She was no great innovator, but she was a good servant of her clients, and earned their affection and respect. Now, however, as I continue to hear the shrill cries of the vultures of the capitalist aristocracy as they circle over the corpse of American democracy, I wonder if the care and skill that she lavished on those works was not misplaced.

Monuments to the rich and famous clutter up the World. Perhaps soon the layers of ashes from expired human hopes will eventually cover them up, but I doubt it. It is more likely that the burial of the glory of the powerful will be achieved mainly by the bones and tattered hopes of ordinary people.

 All text on this page is the work of J W Durham and is licensed only under terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Other licensing terms may be available. E-mail me