While staying in Morro Bay, Mary Lynn and I drove north on Highway 1 to San Simeon and toured Hearst Castle. Built by William Randolph Hearst starting in 1919, the mansion sits 1600 feet above and 5 miles from the Pacific. It has a commanding view over a huge section of California’s Central Coast and the Pacific Ocean.
W.R. Hearst fell in love with this countryside as a boy while visiting the mega-ranch owned by his father. When he inherited the 250,000 acre property in 1919 (including 14 miles of coastline), he approached Julia Morgan, a highly acclaimed and classically trained architect. Supposedly the conversation started as follows:
“I would like to build ‘a little something’ upon the hill at San Simeon. I get tired of going up there and camping in tents. I'm getting a little too old for that. I'd like to get something that would be a little more comfortable.”
“A little something’ indeed. This conversation began the collaboration between Morgan and Hearst that spanned 25+ years of design and construction. The Hearst Castle estate includes 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and what was at the time, the world's largest private zoo.
Hearst travelled extensively and was an avid collector with wide and varied tastes. He bought entire rooms, buildings full of furniture, highly decorative ceilings, etc. His castle was really a means of getting his treasures out of his warehouses and on display.
The Neptune pool is a perfect example. He purchased the Roman Temple in Europe, dismantled it, shipped it to California, and had it reconstructed as a focal point of the pool. He had the pool built and re-built three times before he was happy with the outcome. This was typical of Hearst throughout the design/build process. He and Morgan were constantly re-doing portions of the castle.
The Hearst family donated the estate to the State of California in 1959. Located almost exactly 250 miles from both San Francisco and Los Angeles, Hearst Castle is not the easiest place to visit yet over one million visitors per year make the trip.
Mary Lynn and I took the tour, which was good but not great. It did not compare to the tour we took of the Biltmore estate located just outside of Ashville, NC. That said, it’s a pretty good tour and the estate is definitely a ‘must see’. I would have liked a little more background on the life and times of WR Hearst and will read a couple of books to get that info.
Tapestries, fireplace, ceiling, and much of the furniture in the room above were all collected by Hearst and sent to his architect to be incorporated into the Castle’s design.
The indoor pool was incredibly ornate. And Hearst’s fortune included silver & gold mines, soooo, when you see the color gold, most likely it’s real gold/gold leaf. Amazing what a little money can do…
The estate included an airport. Hearst owned several newspapers and had the newspapers flown in daily from LA on his personal DC-3. This plane also ferried the constant stream of visitors to & from the estate.
Harry Potter fans might feel a sense of déjà vu from the Hearst Castle dining room pictured above. The film crew visited Hearst Castle and took numerous pictures that were used as inspiration for the large dining room at Hogwarts.
When you stayed at Hearst Castle you were expected to dine with WR Hearst and all the other guests. At first you would be seated next to/near WR Hearst however the longer you stayed the further away from him you would be seated. Subtle hint not to overstay your welcome…
That’s always good advice – so we’ll be moving North to the Santa Cruz/Monterey area.
See Ya !
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