Morrow, Gertrude Comfort, ca. 1892-1987

Biography

Irving F. Morrow (1884-1952)

Irving F. Morrow was born in Oakland, California in 1884. He graduated from UC Berkeley in 1906, and attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts from 1908 to 1911.

Morrow began his practice in San Francisco and Oakland in 1916, designing schools, houses, banks, theaters, hotels, and commercial buildings. Highlights of his career include working on the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, consulting on the architecture of the Golden Gate Bridge from 1932 to 1937 (he chose its orange color), and participating in the San Francisco Golden Gate International Exposition from 1939 to 1940. He also designed the rectory and guest house of the San Juan Bautista Mission. During his career, Morrow worked for William Hays, John Galen Howard, and other Bay Area architects. He practiced with partner William I. Garren from 1916 to 1925. From 1925 until 1952, he was a partner in Morrow and Morrow with his wife Gertrude. (They married in 1920.)

Irving Morrow was a member of the American Institute of Architects and the American Society of Landscape Architects. He was the editor of Pacific Coast Architecture, San Francisco, from 1916-1919 and 1921-925, and contributed to the Architectural Record and various other periodicals. From 1930-1941 he was the chairman on the Section on Architecture of the Commonwealth Club of California. Morrow also served as the Director of the American Historical Building Survey (HABS) for California north of San Luis Obispo.

Gertrude Comfort Morrow (ca. 1892-1987)

A California native, Gertrude Comfort Morrow was born in San Francisco and attended Alameda High School. She received her bachelor's degree in architecture from UC Berkeley in 1913, and her master's degree a year later. As a student, she designed the Gamma Phi Beta sorority's coat of arms in 1912. She worked on her own before joining the firm of her husband, Irving F. Morrow. Gertrude practiced architecture with Irving from 1924-1940, in San Francisco and later in Berkeley. She was the supervising architect for St. Francis Woods, a residential neighborhood in San Francisco, during World War I (under her maiden name, Gertrude E. Comfort). Other independent projects include the Women's Athletic Club in Oakland and the music building at the Monrovian Seminary and College for Women in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Together, Gertrude and Irving Morrow designed the Alameda-Contra Costa County Building for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition at Treasure Island. Gertrude retired from architecture in 1952, when Irving died. She then became an award-winning ballroom dancer and a landscape watercolorist, and died in Tucson at the age of 95.

From the guide to the Irving F. and Gertrude Comfort Morrow Collection, 1914-1958, (Environmental Design Archives.)