Background
Octavius Morgan was born on October 20, 1850 in Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. He was a son of Giles Chapman and Caroline (Adams) Morgan. In 1870 he came to the United States.
Octavius Morgan was born on October 20, 1850 in Canterbury, England, United Kingdom. He was a son of Giles Chapman and Caroline (Adams) Morgan. In 1870 he came to the United States.
He studied an architectural drawing in England.
After living in Denver, Colo, a short time, Mr. Morgan traveled to southern California, and in 1873 established residence in Los Angeles. He found employment as a draftsman with the late E. P. Kysor, a pioneer architect in the city, and after being taken into partnership a few years later, practiced under the firm name of Kysor & Morgan until the elder architect retired in 1888. The firm’s most noted work in Los Angeles during that period was St. Vibiana’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on Main Street, built at a cost of $75,000, enlarged in later years, and still standing. The partners also designed the Fort Street Methodist Church, and several business blocks on Main Street, including the McDonald and Cardona Buildings, long ago demolished.
In 1889 Mr. Morgan joined the late J. A. Walls in organizing the firm of Morgan & Walls, with his own son, O. W. Morgan becoming a member in 1910. In this final and most successful phase of his career Octavius Morgan became one of the leading architects in Los Angeles, responsible for the planning and execution of many important commissions.
Numbered among these was Los Angeles' first High School erected on the site of the old Court House; Child’s Opera House; Nadeau Hotel (razed); Bullard Building; Hollenbeck Building and the Hollenbeck Home for the Aged; Morosco Theatre; M. A. Newman Building at 7th and Broadway; Farmers’ & Merchants Bank Building, 5th and Main; Kerchoff Building at 6th and Main; Sisters of Charity Hospital on Sunset Blvd. (demolished in recent years); Bank of Italy Building, No. 660 So. Spring St.; the original Title Insurance Co. Building, No. 433 So. Spring St.; W. P. Story Office Building; Savoy Hotel at 6th and Grand, and the Van Nuys Building where the firm had its office for many years.
One of the founders and charter member of the Southern California Chapter, A. I. A. Mr. Morgan was elected the first President of the Chapter and served in that office for several years. He was admitted to the A.I.A. in 1900, subsequently advanced to Fellowship in 1909, and later served on the National Board of Directors.