ICAA Northern California Julia Morgan Awards: The Green Room

The Institute of Classical Architecture and Art Northern California Chapter (ICAA Northern California) recently celebrated the 2020 and 2022 Julia Morgan Awards at The Green Room in the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center. It was fitting that winners and peers gathered in its Beaux-Arts splendor. The ICAA Northern California holds a biennial juried competition acknowledging excellence in classical and traditional design. Named for the renowned architect of Hearst Castle, the Julia Morgan Awards recognize contemporary architects, interior designers, artisans, landscape architects, students, and patrons while honoring Morgan's legacy and encouraging future generations.

Architect Arthur Brown Jr.

Architect Arthur Brown Jr. (1874–1957) designed the Veterans Building, the location of The Green Room, in the 1920s. It opened in 1932 as a part of the two-block War Memorial that included its grander sister, a new Opera House to replace the one destroyed by the 1906 earthquake. Brown attended Berkeley's University of California, where along with Julia Morgan, he studied under the luminary of American architecture, Bernard Maybeck. Maybeck encouraged his students to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The War Memorial's design evokes Brown's exposure to French aesthetics with its usage of severe colonnades inspired by the Louvre Museum.

2020 and 2022 Julia Morgan Awards Winners

In 1945, the Veterans Building became an international landmark when President Truman and other heads of state and dignitaries signed the United Nations Charter in its auditorium (now Herbst Theatre). The Green Room, located on the second floor of the building, initially functioned as a library and reading room for World War I veterans. Today, the space known for its distinctive celadon walls, soaring ivory ceiling, parcel-gilt details, and five 24-light crystal chandeliers serves as a performance and reception hall. It features floor-to-ceiling windows leading to an outdoor russet-tiled loggia that looks across to another Brown-designed Beaux-Arts masterpiece, San Francisco City Hall.