Hearst Castle California August 2018
Hearst Castle, San Simeon, is a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark located on the Central Coast of California in the United States. Between 1919 and 1947, it was the residence of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, and in 1954 it was turned into a California State Park. Hearst Castle has 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools, and walkways, plus a three large guesthouses and the opulent main mansion, which is full of Spanish and Italian antiques. In its heyday, Hearst Castle had a private movie theater, a zoo, tennis courts, and two magnificent swimming pools.
Hearst Castle is located halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, so there are plenty of easy ways to get drive here. We took the scenic Highway 1 along the coast of California, about six hours drive to get there. To my knowledge, there's nothing else like it in the United States. Sure, there are palatial mansions all over the country, some probably larger and more lavish (certainly by today's standards) than this, but this is a spectacle of art and architectural history, incorporating pieces into it from cultures around the world that are centuries old.
In 1865, George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres of ranchland that included the mexican ranchos of Piedra Blanca, San Simeon and Santa Rosa. In 1919, his son, William Randolph Hearst, inherited the land from his mother, Phoebe Apperson Hearst. He eventually expanded it to encompass 250,000 acres. Originally known as “Camp Hill,” its wilderness offered a magnificent campsite for family and friends, but Hearst envisioned more comfortable accommodations. His simple instructions to famed San Francisco architect Julia Morgan in 1919 were:
“Miss Morgan, we are tired of camping out in the open at the ranch in San Simeon and I would like to build a little something.”
Hearst renamed the hilltop that crowned his huge ranch “La Cuesta Encantada” – The Enchanted Hill. By 1947, Hearst and Morgan had created an estate of 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens, terraces, pools and walkways – an American castle that was destined to become one of the world’s greatest showplaces for his art collection.
