San Simeon - Hearst Castle

Visitors would hardly bother to stop in San Simeon were it not for a place of great interest which is at first hidden from view - the famous castle. It was built by the newspaper king William Randolph Hearst, and must surely be the most grandiose and magnificent monument ever erected by a private individual. When Hearst died in 1951 it was still not quite finished, after being in course of construction for 30 years.

In spite of having hundreds of rooms there is still not enough space to house all the works of art which Hearst collected during his lifetime.

W. R. Hearst

Hearst's father George, himself not exactly a poor man (he left a fortune of 18 million U.S. dollars when he died in 1891), bought a 40,000 acre/ 16,000 hectare ranch on San Simeon Bay. By buying up more land he enlarged it more than five-fold (230,000 acres/92,000 hectares), until it stretched more than 50mi/80km along the Pacific. When W. R. Hearst's mother died in 1919 William Randolph was the sole heir and he decided to build himself a new house on the estate. The official reason given for building this showpiece of a castle was that it was a memorial to his mother. The real reason, however, was the desire of his mistress, the moderately gifted film actress Marion Davies, to acquire a residence "in keeping with her standing". He instructed the Californian architect Julia Morgan to construct for him, on a hill in the Santa Lucia Mountains 1650ft/500m above sea level and almost 6mi/ 10km from the coast, a building in which there would be room to house all his art treasures.

The construction saga

A start was made in 1922. The guest-houses were finished first, and later given the names of La Casa del Mar (The House by the Sea), La Casa del Monte (The House on the Hill) and La Casa del Sol (The House of the Sun). Hearst lived in the first and largest of the three houses himself until the main house, La Casa Grande, was built. The three guest-houses had a total of 46 rooms, and at the time of Hearst's death the main house had 100 rooms, including 38 bedrooms, 31 bathrooms, 14 living rooms, two libraries, a huge refectory (dining room), a cinema, a kitchen and a large reception hall. Hearst named the whole place La Cuesta Encantada (The Enchanted Hill). It was surrounded by a garden covering 120 acres/ 48 hectares with a small zoo. Zebras, mountain goats and Aoudad sheep also grazed on the hill. The last named can still be seen there today.

Hearst State Historical Monument

Seven years after Hearst's death the family left the castle to the Federal State of California, which erected the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument here and has managed it ever since. Unlike many other historical buildings, the castle and its contents and fittings have been preserved in their original state, thus giving us an insight into the opulent lifestyle of its erstwhile occupants.

How much did it cost?

Nobody has ever known for certain how much money it all cost Hearst. Estimates have put it at 30 million U.S. dollars (worth about 300-400 million dollars today). What he paid for the works of art, which he began to collect at the turn of the century, cannot even be guessed at. Many of the paintings from his collection can be seen in other Californian museums, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.