New research has unearthed untold stories of historic significance of Nevada County’s North Star House and the national contributions made by two remarkable women, architect Julia Morgan and author Mary Hallock Foote.
In June, the National Register of Historic Places of the United States Department of the Interior honored North Star House as a place of national significance, an amendment to a 2011 award, in the areas of architecture, literature, women’s history and equal rights.
The latest distinction is notable for being awarded to only about 1% of the country’s nominees, according to the California Office of Historic Preservation. The recognition of women’s contributions is even more infrequent.
Federal recognition puts North Star House on the map for tourists, historians and scholars, opening the door to future possibilities.
“We firmly believe the North Star House stands as a beacon of national significance, contributing immeasurably to the realms of architecture, literature and the ongoing pursuit of equal rights,” wrote District 5 Nevada County Supervisor Hardy Bullock on behalf of the Board of Supervisors in a letter of support. Nevada County has long recognized the historical significance of the North Star House by supporting its restoration and preservation throughout the years, beginning with the replacement of the roof in 2004.
A small team of volunteers spent two years researching before finding buried stories prompting a fresh look at the roles two women had in shaping the national history of early 20th-century America.
“When you think back to school or college, most of us can’t remember learning about many women. Their contributions are missing from our national story… These two women followed their passions and history changed because of them,” said Carla Holtzclaw, the lead author of the nomination.
To celebrate the recent federal recognition, The North Star Historic Conservancy will open the house and grounds during a free community celebration with local speakers from 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 16 at its location at 12075 Auburn Road, Grass Valley.
“Getting this recognition is validating for all the volunteers who worked here for decades. It’s a very cool place and there haven’t been a lot of women who have received this kind of notoriety,” said President of the Board Paula Campbell.
WWI, Hostess Houses and Julia Morgan
Though Julia Morgan is well-known as California’s first female architect responsible for some of the state’s most influential architecture including Hearst Castle and Asilomar, her earliest significant commission as a licensed architect is North Star House in 1904.
Holtzclaw and co-author Dr. Karen McNeill, a leading Julia Morgan historian from the Bay Area, poured through records at Smith College when they stumbled across 1,500 pages of microfiche reports and minutes from the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) linking Morgan and North Star House to World War I.
“We hit gold,” said Holtzclaw.
Under an agreement between the YWCA and the War Department, Hostess Houses would be built on training camps and serve as vital hubs for servicemen and their loved ones during a tumultuous period in the nation’s history. Before the houses, there was no place to say a final goodbye.
The YWCA charged Morgan with the design and construction of 127 Hostess Houses on 32 military training camps nationwide. The houses allowed close to five million servicemen to visit for a day with their loved ones before shipping out to Europe. Some houses saw over 1700 visitors a day.
North Star House is the perceived prototype for the Hostess Houses. They had the same design elements as North Star House with large windows, paneling, exposed posts and beams, unique fireplaces and using local materials. Morgan’s signature design of creating spaces capable of having intimate conversations within large group settings was also found.
“By that time Morgan was very well practiced at creating beautiful functional spaces on a budget. Morgan was just brilliant on a budget. I think that’s where she was most brilliant,” said McNeill.
In a segregated military, the black servicemen endured racism that included lack of sanitary facilities, having to hike to creeks to bathe, and not being allowed in mess tents for meals. Seventeen black commanders requested Hostess Houses and, with credit to Morgan, the houses were identical to the Hostess Houses for the white servicemen. It was a bold statement for that time.
Civil rights historians point to the positive and negative experiences from WWI as one of the many roots of the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The Hostess Houses are now one of the positive roots.
After the war, most of the Hostess Houses were demolished and their significance largely forgotten.
The New Woman Movement and Mary Hallock Foote
This breakthrough led the team to take a fresh look at the novels of Mary Hallock Foote, in particular two novels she wrote while living at North Star House.
Born in the Victorian era of the 1800s and a Quaker her entire life, Foote was a famous illustrator for books by Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Louisa May Alcott. Later, she became a leading author of novels that accurately described the settling of the West. Foote’s novels written at North Star House took a different tone.
“Foote’s great granddaughter, Annie Brillhart, provided insights that were a reality check to what we thought we were seeing. Foote had been cast as an Eastern gentlewoman who was a bit of a snob. While she was intentional in her writing and values, she was unintentionally part of the first U.S. Feminist Movement, The New Woman, encouraging women to take a different life path than their mothers or grandmothers,” said Holtzclaw.
She penned her most influential novels “The Valley Road” (1915) and “The Ground-Swell” (1919) at her desk at her south-facing window so the sunlight would aid her fading eyesight. She advocated for women’s rights and the inherent value of women’s voices and choices at a time when to do so was seen as radical. She wrote from her own life experience, and she wrote with a renewed passion following the births of four granddaughters.
“The Valley Road” inspired women to go to college, graduate and have a career before marrying the man she loved, as opposed to marrying the man her parents chose. It was a best seller with five reprintings. “The Ground-Swell” was one of the first novels that addressed lesbians, encouraging them to also go to college, have a career and then be with women she loved. College graduation rates for women doubled between 1900 and 1930, according to data from PBS, and while the novels were not solely responsible, they were part of a bigger movement of change in the ways women viewed themselves.
Literary critics from newspapers such as New York Herald and the Baltimore Sun had a field day with the novels, wondering about these “women of the West” having their own opinions, careers, standing up to their fiancés or speaking of the “third sex.”
“Ground-Swell was one of the first novels addressing lesbians and, I think from discussions with her great granddaughter Annie, that Hallock Foote wrote for women who had no voice at the time and realized that lesbians needed to be included as well,” said Holtzclaw.
North Star House
In the early 1900’s North Star Mine became one of the two largest gold producing mines in the county. Owner James Hague wanted a mansion to impress investors from the East Coast and to provide housing for Mine Superintendent A.D. Foote and his wife, Mary Hallock Foote.
In the summer of 1904, Hague commissioned a newly licensed Julia Morgan to design North Star House. Located on the crest of a sloping hill, the 11,000-square-foot two-storied grand mansion was built in an Arts and Crafts and First Bay Tradition style using rough quarried granite salvaged from the adjacent mine and wood and other materials from the forested property. Morgan would go on to design more than 700 buildings in California during a long and prolific career.
“She was an incredible professional genius,” said local architect David Wright who updated the physical description of the house for the nomination and was one of the co-founders of the North Star Historic Conservancy who helped save North Star House from ruin.
“It’s got roots right in the earth of the property,” Wright continued, “This is an incredible asset for Nevada County. I’ve been working on this for more than 20 years. This is a big step forward and puts us on the national stage. We’re hoping it will bring opportunities for funding to restore the place. These were two women ahead of their time.”
In the late 1960s the house was sold to a boarding school. When the school failed, the property was abandoned to the elements for almost 20 years. A new owner deeded the property to the Nevada County Land Trust (now Bear Yuba Land Trust) in 2002. With the backing of a large grant from Nevada County to replace the roof and stabilize the house, community members began restoration of the house. In 2015, ownership was transferred to the North Star Historic Conservancy and today, North Star House and the grounds serve as an historic setting for cultural and private events as well as a reminder of the legacies of Julia Morgan and Mary Hallock Foote.
“There are so few properties on the National Register related to women’s history. This is partly to correct the record and bring to the forefront the ways women have shaped the history of the country in important ways and often underappreciated ways. It’s also important to North Star House as this really opens up opportunities for the organization. It’s a feather in Grass Valley’s cap,” said McNeill.
To learn more about North Star House and the legacies of Julia Morgan and Mary Hallock Foote, public tours are held every 2nd and 4th Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. They are free and do not require reservation. Volunteers for the numerous projects are always welcomed. Visit the website at www.northstarhouse.org
Laura Petersen is a freelance writer who lives in Grass Valley. This article was written on behalf of Nevada County. Contact Laura at laurapetersenmedia@gmail.com.