Restoring Pasadena’s Historic YWCA Building
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City officials have recently started pushing to restore Pasadena’s YWCA building. The Mediterranean-style structure was built in 1921 and designed by architect Julia Morgan, California’s first renowned female architect. Prior to finishing the YWCA, Morgan completed Hearst Castle on the Central California coast for baron William Randolph Hearst. Not a bad resume. Unfortunately, Pasadena’s YWCA has been vacant for over 15 years. City officials held meetings earlier this year with Trove Investments regarding an agreement to restore the historic building.
Julia Morgan was also very involved with the Young Women’s Christian Association. She built many YWCAs in California in addition to all her other public and commercial projects, including the Mission Revival Los Angeles Herald-Examiner building in downtown LA. She was also the first woman to graduate from the world-class École des Beaux-Arts architecture school in Paris. Pasadena’s YWCA is not only a beautiful historic monument (or at least it was at one time), but it also represents the persistence and success of women such as Julia Morgan. It’s not hard to understand why so many would like to see this building restored.
“It’s an increasing tragedy that the owner will not take proper action. The council is anxious to see progress made on that property,” said Mayor Bogaard tells Pasadena Weekly.
Claire Bogaard, wife of Mayor Bill Bogaard and cofounder of the preservation group Pasadena Heritage says, “It’s a double blow to have our only Julia Morgan building, a building in the middle of the Civic Center and on the National Register of Historic Places, in such very bad shape. When Julia Morgan built something, she built it very well. The bones of this building are strong.”
“We’ve been trying to resurrect good-faith negotiations with the owner on some options the city is trying to understand — lease prices, purchase prices and the value of the property,” says Eric Duyshart, a business development administrator with the city. Whether the city will come to a resolution with the owner remains to be seen.
Photo Courtesy of Bluffton University.
