The Woman Behind the Building

Victoria Kastner, historian at William Randolph Hearst’s San Simeon for 38 years, gave a captivating lecture at the Santa Barbara Club to Montecito Bank & Trust’s MClub, focusing on the publishing magnate’s trailblazing architect Julia Morgan who designed more than 700 buildings in California.

Morgan, who died in 1957 at age 85, was the first woman to be admitted to the architecture program at L’École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and the first woman architect licensed in California.

Kastner has written three volumes of work on Hearst Castle.

Among those paying rapt attention were Maria McCall, Mara Abboud, Sue Adams, Hiroko Benko, Brenda Blalock, Erin Graffy, Anne Luther, Keith Moore, Katherine Murray-Morse, and Brendon Twigden.