Everything You Need to Know About Hearst Castle

One of the largest homes in America, Hearst Castle has been a source of American fascination since William Randolph Hearst began building it in 1919. Located north of San Luis Obispo, just off of Highway 1, the spectacular estate, designed by architect Julia Morgan, is notable not only for its size but also for the incredible collection of art and antiquities acquired by Hearst from around the world. Throughout Hearst’s time at the San Simeon castle, the home attracted a who’s who of Hollywood and politics, from Greta Garbo and Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill and Calvin Coolidge. Hearst and his mansion are believed to have inspired Citizen Kane’s Charles Foster Kane and his gothic Xanadu, further adding to the interest in the famously unfinished castle. Read on to discover the history and wonders of one of America’s most iconic homes.

History of Hearst Castle in California

Senator, prospector, and businessman George Hearst purchased roughly 48,000 acres of the Piedra Blanca Rancho near San Simeon Bay in 1865. Along with his wife, Phoebe, and son, William Randolph, Hearst used the land for camping trips and would eventually acquire 250,000 acres in the area. William Randolph Hearst inherited the Pacific Coast land following his mother’s death in 1919, and the publishing magnate decided to build a home on the section then known as Camp Hill.

Hearst turned to San Francisco architect Julia Morgan, who had worked on a project for his mother, to design what he called La Cuesta Encantada, or The Enchanted Hill, writing to her, “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.” Their collaboration would span 28 years and result in an estate with 165 rooms, two palatial pools, 127 acres of gardens, and a zoo—far beyond his initial request.

Throughout construction, Hearst used the castle as his primary residence and entertained some of the biggest names of the era in its opulent spaces. His mistress, the actress, screenwriter, and philanthropist Marion Davies, hosted dazzling events and celebrity-filled weekends at the Hearst mansion. (Hearst’s estranged wife, Millicent, decamped for New York in 1926, after the family christened the main house on Christmas Eve 1925.) Hearst and Davies stayed at San Simeon until 1947 when they moved to her home in Beverly Hills so Hearst could seek medical care. Hearst died in Los Angeles in 1951 and the Hearst family gave the castle to the state of California. Officially known as Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument, the castle is now a California State Park.

Architecture and Design Influences

Hearst was inspired by the castles he’d seen on a European tour as a boy and wanted his home to emulate the palaces of Europe. Morgan was the first woman to earn a certificate in architecture at Paris’s École des Beaux-Arts, which, in addition to her degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, made her an ideal match for the project.

Hearst and Morgan considered a number of architectural styles for the property. Spanish Colonial Revival architecture was popular at the time, but Hearst and Morgan opted for a slightly different type of Spanish architecture, adding different elements to make the castle’s style unique. According to Taylor Coffman’s Hearst Castle: The Story of William Randolph Hearst and San Simeon, the pair was drawn to the Cathedral of Santa Maria la Mayor in Ronda, Spain, and used it as inspiration for the design of the towers that accentuate the main house, Casa Grande. Gothic and Neoclassical features were also brought into areas of the estate, and Hearst purchased architectural elements such as Moorish doors and an 18th-century ceiling from an Italian palazzo.

The Evolution of Hearst Castle and Its Additions

In The Golden Days of San Simeon, author Ken Murray describes the castle’s piecemeal construction process, which added to the exorbitant cost. “The building of San Simeon was extremely difficult and expensive because it was not planned functionally from the start. It seemed to grow in an endless mosaic style to suit the housing needs of Mr. Hearst’s vast collections of art objects and to satisfy his memories of decorative arrangements he had seen in the castles and cathedrals of Europe, which he wanted to duplicate in his own palace.” Also adding to the difficulty was the home’s Central Coast location.

The first elements of the hilltop estate to be completed were the three guest houses that surround the main house: Casa Del Mar, Casa Del Monte, and Casa Del Sol. The structures each have a different view and vary in size, with Casa Del Mar the largest at 5,350 square feet. Hearst used Casa Del Mar as his own residence while Casa Grande was under construction. The guest houses appear to be single story structures, but Morgan designed the homes with multiple levels going down the hillside.

Construction began on Casa Grande in 1922. According to hearstcastle.org, the 68,500-square-foot residence includes 38 bedrooms, 42 bathrooms, 14 sitting rooms, and 30 fireplaces. Casa Grande was also home to the only kitchen and dining rooms on the property.

Notable Elements of the Castle

One of the most elaborately decorated spaces inside Hearst Castle is the Assembly room, which according to Victoria Kastner’s Hearst Castle: The Biography of a Country House, functioned as “the great hall of the house, where guests gathered at all hours but particularly for cocktails before dinner.” The 24-foot-high room included a fireplace from a château in Burgundy, France; Italian choir stalls used as wainscotting; and tapestries displayed along the upper wall.

The main library is located on the second floor above the Assembly room. “A stately and gracious spot, its formality contrasts with the more informal atmosphere of most of Casa Grande’s public rooms,” notes Kastner in her book. The spectacular space is crowned with an antique coffered ceiling and displays Hearst’s collection of Greek vases.

The Refectory, Casa Grande’s dining room, boasts 27-foot-tall ceilings and incorporates ecclesiastical motifs, such as Spanish choir stalls, an Italian ceiling carved with images of saints, and a gilt iron church grille. Four long Italian walnut tables were placed end-to-end in the center of the room, adding to the drama of dining in the space.

Hearst’s private quarters were in the Gothic Suite on the third floor of Casa Grande. Completed in 1927, the suite contains Hearst’s South Gothic Bedroom, Marion Davies’ North Gothic Bedroom, a sitting area, two bathrooms, and the Gothic Library. Antique doors, ceilings, and mantle pieces from a range of provenances were incorporated throughout. The Gothic Library was Hearst’s private study and Morgan installed a 15th-century Spanish ceiling between plaster-covered concrete arches, which were painted by artist Camille Solon.

The castle is home to two swimming pools: the Roman Pool and the Neptune Pool. The Roman Pool is located indoors, beneath the tennis courts. Eight statues of Roman gods, goddesses, and heroes decorate the elaborate indoor pool, which is lined with blue, orange, and gold mosaic tiles. The mosaics were designed by Camille Solon and inspired by the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia. The Neptune Pool was constructed from 1924–36, and what stands today is the third version of the pool. Reconstructed Roman temple fragments form the centerpiece of the Neptune Pool area, which also features sculptures by Charles Cassou.

Morgan designed the Esplanade to link the guesthouses to Casa Grande and unify the property. Hearst and Morgan also carefully developed the gardens on the property. According to Murray Alcosser’s America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public, “Over one hundred thousand trees, an eclectic mix of psalm, cypress, giant oaks, eucalyptus, cedar of Lebanon, and redwood were transported to picturesque sites on the landscape. There are five formal gardens, including a rose garden with over 50 varieties of the flower.

Hearst filled his ranch, as he called it, with an impressive collection of sculptures, paintings, tapestries, and antiquities, turning it into a museum as well as a home. Some of the notable pieces in the collection include the Venus Italica by Antonio Canova, four tapestries from The Continence of Scipio, a Roman sarcophagus from 230 AD, and Annunciation by Bartolomé Pérez de la Dehesa.

Interesting Facts About Hearst Castle

Hearst Ranch was once home to the world’s largest private zoo. Known as the Hearst Garden of Comparative Zoology, the zoo was made up of a menagerie of cages, housing animals such as tigers, black bears, chimpanzees, and an elephant, as well as sprawling fenced enclosures where white fallow deer, giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, and yaks roamed.

W.R. Hearst’s guests could arrive by plane, thanks to two L-shaped runways located on the site of the current visitor center. Famous aviators such as Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes landed at the airport and stored their planes in the hangar. The airstrip was moved a mile away in 1946 and is still used by the Hearst Corporation and family.

The basement wine cellar is located beneath the Assembly Room and features two rooms with double vault doors. Hearst continued to serve alcohol at San Simeon during Prohibition and his papers even ran a contest in 1929 offering $25,000 for the best plan for repealing Prohibition.

Casa Del Sol was damaged in 1976 when a bomb was placed there by members of New World Liberation Front, allies of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the group that kidnapped Hearst’s granddaughter Patricia in 1974.

Frequently Asked Questions About Hearst Castle

Very few productions have been permitted to film at Hearst Castle. The estate’s Neptune Pool was used as a filming location for Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film Spartacus, and in 2014 the Neptune and Roman Pools served as a backdrop for Lady Gaga’s “G.U.Y.” music video.

Though the zoo was dismantled in 1937, there were still animals on the property when Hearst Castle was donated to the state of California. Zebras can still be seen grazing in the area.

Four granite sculptures of the goddess Sekhmet date from 1550–1070 BCE and are the oldest works of art on the estate. Morgan installed them on the Esplanade.

There are 58 bedrooms across the four structures, including 38 in Casa Grande, eight in Casa Del Mar, four in Casa del Monte, and eight in Casa del Sol.

Hearst Castle opened to the public in June 1958. Today castle tours are offered daily (except for on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. A number of different tours are available, including a grand rooms tour recommended for first-time visitors, a Julia Morgan tour for visitors interested in learning more about the architect’s career, and an evening tour offered during the spring and fall featuring guides wearing 1930s period dress.