Events and programs for Women's History Month continue with a lecture Thursday about women architects of the San Francisco Bay Area hosted by the Oakland Heritage Alliance at the Julia Morgan designed Chapel of the Chimes.

Thursday's speaker is Inge Horton, who extensively researched Julia Morgan's 40-year career and other lesser known women who were architects in the Bay Area from in the first half of the 20th century. The talk is based on her book Early Women Architects of the San Francisco Bay Area -- The Lives and Work of Fifty Professionals, 1890-1951.

The author sets the stage for her topic by laying out the closely protected lives of young upper and middle class girls and women at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century. The expectations were that members of the "fairer" sex embarked on higher education primarily to enhance their chances to marry and to produce and care for children. According to Horton, this started to change when many women became involved in the suffrage and temperance movements.

There was a rise in women's clubs and church groups signaling that women were leaving the confines of their homes and beginning to exert their influence in the public sphere. Western states, including California achieved voting rights for women earlier passage of suffrage occurred in 1911 as opposed to nationwide in 1920, when the constitutional amendment was passed. In 50 years, California had grown from a rough, male dominated mining frontier, population 92,000 in 1850, to a population of 1.5 million in 1900; 45 percent were women.

Horton highlights Phoebe Apperson Hearst (1842-1919), who was the first female regent for the University of California. Hearst, whose mining magnate husband was George Hearst, used her wealth to enhance the growing university, and to encourage policies that would benefit women students. History files reveal that one of those students was a young Julia Morgan, then studying civil engineering.

At the time Morgan (1872-1957) entered the University in 1890, it was a small and relatively unknown institution, states Horton, with 432 undergraduates, 100 of whom were women. There was not an architecture course of study, but the university had hired a talented draftsman, Bernard Maybeck (1862-1957), to teach students "descriptive geometry." Maybeck, only a decade older than his students, had trained at the prestigious Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. He encouraged Morgan, one of his most promising students to do the same, even though up until that time no female had been admitted to the school.

Horton's book profiles the careers of 50 women bay area architects, in addition to Julia Morgan. One of these, Mildred Meyers (1898-1982), came along a generation later than Morgan. By the time Meyers entered UC Berkeley, it had an architecture department. Mildred was one of three daughters of a respected local architect and she followed in her father's footsteps. The sisters lived all their lives in the family home in central Alameda, and Mildred assisted in her father's firm, designing the Veterans Memorial Buildings in Alameda County (including Oakland's) and Highland Hospital.

Today, the Meyers Neo-Colonial style home and gardens is a museum, where the public can see the environment where this not as well known female architect spent her days. The property also has the studio building where she and her father worked on their commissions.

Julia Morgan's childhood home in Oakland does not survive, unfortunately, and can only be seen in photographs.

Horton's lecture will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Chapel of the Chimes, 4499 Piedmont Ave. For more about the Heritage Alliance program, and to make a reservation, go to http://www.oaklandheritage.org.

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Allen: Women architects of the Bay Area topic of lecture

The Mandan School Board could decide to build a middle school, change elementary schools to grades K-4, create a ninth-grade campus or expand the district's existing facilities to address the projected influx of students, architects said Monday.

Representatives from JLG Architects presented board members with those options and others to consider after conducting a study of the district's facilities.

Doug Larson of JLG said the district needs to consider building a second middle school as the high school could reach 1,500 students by 2029.

"You're not going to feed that high school off one middle school," he said. "A 1,500-student middle school is getting close to a mega-school."

Enrollment district-wide is expected to grow by 700 students in five years.

Larson said the district could also consider moving fifth graders to the middle school, which would free up space at the elementary level. He suggested that as a temporary option fifth grade would move back to elementary schoolswhen the district catches up on building other facilities.

Such a plan would prevent schools from having to rely on portables to accommodate the overflow of students, he said.

The district could also build expansions at its elementary schools, but additions are feasible only at Fort Lincoln and Red Trail, Kevin Ruhland of JLG said.

The architects also suggested the district consider pulling all ninth graders from Mandan High School and sending them to the Brave Center for one year.

In other business, the school board passed a resolution agreeing to work with the park district and city of Mandan to find a suitable location to build recreational facilities if voters approve a sales tax for that purpose. The school district would make land available through joint powers or facilities usage agreements.

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Architects pose building options to Mandan School Board

New owners revive concept for townhomes, retail space on downtown block

One of Troutdale's most recognizable remnants of the economic recession, the stalled downtown Discovery Block on the Historic Columbia River Highway, is getting a new lease on life.

Leveled right before the recession kicked in in 2008, the block front between Southeast Dora Street and Harlow Avenue was envisioned as a U-shaped hub for prosperity.

On one side would be an anchor tenant, perhaps a restaurant or pub, with a retail shop and room for offices on the other. Behind the commercial buildings, 10 townhomes would arise.

When the economy tanked, so did the plan.

In the wake of a new ownership deal finalized in 2013, activity has resumed on the block, which still contains the Troutdale Vision Clinic building, at 226 E. Historic Columbia River Highway, between two vacant lots.

Pat Hanlin, one of the property's four owners, said the group is awaiting permitting approval from the city before construction begins on five of the 10 planned townhomes.

Depending on how sales go, then we'll start the second five, hopefully on the heels of that, Hanlin said.

If permitting and readying the site go as planned, the townhomes will begin by this summer.

The city's been anticipating something going on for a long time, he said. Now we're just waiting. Then we're going to be off and running.

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Mixed-use plan for Troutdale Discovery Block back in play

STEVENSVILLE It would be hard to imagine that retired Indian agent Peter Whaley had 130 years of longevity on his mind when he laid that first 12-inch-squared log onto the rubble foundation that would hold his new home back in 1885.

More likely, he wanted to make sure his wife, Hannah, and their nine children had a little bit of room to spread out after living in a nearby small log cabin for nearly six years.

Whaley had claimed 160 acres under the federal Desert Land Act.

On that land, his family built a two-story home from stout, square-hewn logs and then covered the outside with pine clapboard siding that was painted white.

For more than a century, that house was home to several families who raised horses, apples, corn, hogs, dairy cows and potatoes in order to survive.

In the early 1970s, the Hagen family sold the house and their land to Ravalli National Wildlife Refuge, which is now called the Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge. The Hagens only stipulation was that their son, Harold, could live there as long as he wanted. Harold left in 1988.

Ever since then, the house has remained empty.

But this last remaining remnant of the homesteading era hasnt been forgotten.

Recently, Lee Metcalf National Wildlife Refuge manager Tom Reed learned that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set aside $200,000 to refurbish the historic building.

Our vision is that after its been refurbished, we would allow it to be open to the public from spring to fall as a site used to interpret the history of this landscape, Reed said.

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Homestead restoration: Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuges historic Whaley house to become interpretive display

By 3 News online staff

John Key says he won't be putting himself forward as a replacement X Factor NZ judge.

Mr Key joked with reporters at this afternoon's post Cabinet press conference, giving a very definite "no".

"Plenty of people judge me it's the other way round, I don't judge other people."

In response to a question about whether Natalia Kills' behaviour was an example of bullying in New Zealand culture, Mr Key said he had not followed the debate.

"I don't have time I'm too busy doing other things."

However he said New Zealanders clearly enjoyed the programme, which had received more than $2 million in funding from NZ on air over two seasons.

"I guess people vote with their eyeballs.

"They're only going to fund things and TV channels will only basically play things that get popular support for the most part.

"And all of these sort of shows, X Factor and others do attract a lot of support.

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John Key says 'no' to judging X Factor NZ

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