El Campanil, Mills College

Julia Morgan
1903-4

The front and back This bell tower, a reminder of those on Eastern campuses, was one of Morgan's first commissions after she established an independent practice. Mills College was a women's college and this commission initiates a number of important works executed for women's groups (especially the YWCA). The bell tower was sited in a natural setting, boldly at a diagonal from the Main Building (the only building at this time comprising the campus).
Although the more usual bell tower would have been square, Morgan's is 12' x 24' at the base. This 72' high building is constructed of reinforced concrete. Like the Carnegie Library built two years later (also of concrete), it survived the devastating earthquake of 1906--unscathed.
	The top This 5-story tower, with arched openings at 4 levels for each of the eight bells, is in the Mission style. It has a red tile roof as well as tile over the buttresses and the shed roof on the first floor.

Click here to return to Julia Morgan Table of Contents.

Click here to return to Women Architects Table of Contents.

Click here to return to Home Page (Digital Imaging Project: Art historical images of European and North American architecture and sculpture from Classical Greek to Post-Modern).