The La Jolla Woman's Club is a women's club in a historic building in La Jolla, a neighborhood of San Diego, California. Designed and built by Irving Gill with assistance from his nephew Louis John Gill in 1914-1915, it is an important example of Gill's modern architectural style, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
La Jolla Woman's Club | |
.jpg) The western (front) side of the La Jolla Woman's Club | |
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| Location | 715 Silverado St., La Jolla, California |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 32°50′39″N 117°16′36″W / 32.84417°N 117.27667°W |
| Area | 0.6 acres (0.24 ha) |
| Built | 1914 |
| Architect | Irving John Gill |
| NRHP reference No. | 74000546[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 5, 1974 |
History edit
The La Jolla Woman's Club was founded in 1894 as the Current Events Club, taking its present name in 1900. The social club was without a permanent home for the first twenty years of its existence.[2] The cornerstone of the building was laid in December 1913, with the inaugural meeting held in 1914.[2]
The site, design, and construction of the clubhouse were all donated to the La Jolla Woman's Club by philanthropist and club member Ellen Browning Scripps. The project cost a total of $40,000.[3] The building is a prime example of Irving Gill's modern style, exemplified by simple geometrical shapes, and generous use of arches and columns, with a minimum of ornamentation.[3] This style has been described as "shaved Spanish," as it owes much to the colonial Spanish architecture of southern California - and in particular the California missions - with an emphasis on flat rooflines, and lack of frills.[4] The building also was a product of Gill's experimentation with the concrete "tilt-wall" construction method, in which concrete slabs were poured in place onto a large table positioned at a fifteen-degree angle. After it was set, the wall was lifted into place, and windows fitted into it.[3] The interior of the building also showcases Gill's interest in sanitation: there are no baseboards, mouldings, or other design details, as Gill believed that these features trapped dust and dirt.[3] The La Jolla Woman's Club has been called one of Gill's most successful works.[5]
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and is one of several notable Gill-designed buildings in La Jolla, along with The Bishop's School and the La Jolla Recreation Center. The clubhouse is open to visitors on Saturdays from 9:00 am to noon.[3]
References edit
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b Who's Who Among the Women of California. 1922. p.86.
- ^ a b c d e LeBlanc, Sydney. The Architecture Traveler: A Guide to 250 Key Twentieth-Century American Buildings. 2000. p. 24.
- ^ Kidder Smith, G.E. Source Book of American Architecture. 1996. p. 337.
- ^ Kaplan, Wendy. "Building Utopia,", from Modernism in Design, Paul Greenhalgh, ed. 1990. p.106.
External links edit
