Julia morgan buildings1/8/2024 ![]() Hiring Morgan and approving her mix of Monterey, Italianate and Neoclassical styles was a bit risky. The Y hadn’t followed the trends of its time either. (Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) She jokes: “We never had enough money to do damage by following the trends of the time.” Some of the windows are still original glass at the Riverside Art Museum that was a former YWCA designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan with a mix of Mediterranean and Classical Revival styles in Riverside on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. “A lot of things are totally original,” Oberjuerge says of the building’s elements and fixtures. (One mid-1960s casualty was the 1902 Carnegie Library nearby.) Morgan’s Y survived nearly intact into today, when we’re more sensitive to the beauty of an older style. We’re lucky to have it. The building changed hands during the urban renewal era, in which older buildings were often seen as teardowns. While the old Y is an institutional building, it’s one with decorative touches: designs stamped into hallway walls, latticework here and there, classical columns and Spanish wrought iron in the lobby. “My office is messy,” Oberjuerge says apologetically, “but it’s an office in a Julia Morgan building.” Hard to beat that. The mezzanine’s dormitory spaces for short-term stays are now offices, studios and classroom spaces. ![]() It was originally used as a badminton court and now is an event space for 160 with shade sails and a fireplace, offering a measure of climate control. The rooftop offers an expansive view of Riverside. Many talk about swimming in the pool, and not just women, because boys and girls in Poly High’s PE classes used the pool too. Older visitors often share memories of the space, Oberjuerge says. The two-story atrium is a gracious gathering spot during exhibit openings. The lobby still has its original fireplace, with tile said to have been donated by Morgan to help defray the cost. Riverside Art Museum’s Art Alliance Gallery used to be an indoor pool at the former YWCA designed by Hearst Castle architect Julia Morgan with a mix of Mediterranean and Classical Revival styles in Riverside on Wednesday, January 26, 2022. ![]() ![]() The west wing’s swimming pool was filled in and the space converted into a gallery. Ditto with the former gymnasium on the east wing, which as a gallery retains its hardwood floors, in case you feel like bringing in a basketball. The future museum gained an old building that could have been considered a white elephant, what with its leaky roof and moldy swimming pool, and resolved to make it fit its new purpose. The Y needed the money from the sale to build a new facility on Magnolia Avenue, which opened in 1971. ![]()
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