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I love to travel! And when I'm not traveling, I'm looking for places I'd like to go. So, of course, when it came time to take a trip to California I had to do my homework and check out where I'd like to eat, 'cause who doesn't like to eat, and what there was to see.
At the top of my list, since we were staying in Carmel, was the Monterey Aquarium, a whale watching cruise and Hearst Castle in San Simeon. So as promised in my last travel post, today I’m going to tell you all about our visit to William Randolph Hearst’s Castle along with a little bit of its history.
It was hard to imagine anything that would impress us after we were left breathless from our spectacular drive down Highway 1. The stunning views of the rocky coastline and hidden untamed beaches were something everyone should see. But impress us it did!
Our excitement mounted as we neared the estate and gazed upon the castle, high on a cliff. We couldn’t imagine the size of it since it looked so large even from far away. When we arrived, we found that we were at, what I like to call, base camp and had to take a bus trip, about 5 miles up the mountain, to reach his retreat. Now that is what I call a driveway!
Prior to boarding the bus, we were instructed to watch a short movie with a little background into William Randolph Hearst and his castle. Initially, William’s father George, who made money in the gold mining business, purchased the first 40,000 acres of ranch land which is part of the estate today.
William Randolph Hearst, named after his grandfathers, made his money in the newspaper business. After inheriting the San Francisco Examiner from his father, he expanded his empire and became a rich & powerful media mogul. Upon inheriting the estate land on which Hearst Castle sits from his mother in 1919, he immediately expanded the ranch to a total of 250,000 acres.
In 1919, he hired Julia Morgan to be the chief architect of his “comfortable” home. The castle took almost 30 years to build, cost upwards of $500 million in today’s dollars and, upon his death in 1951 was donated to the state of California. It is now on the National Registry of Historic Places as well as being named a National Landmark.
Now get this! His Mediterranean Revival style estate has a total of 58 bedrooms, 60 bathrooms, 18 sitting rooms, 41 fireplaces, 127 acres of gardens, an indoor and an outdoor pool, tennis courts, a movie theater and its own airfield. Holy cow – glad I don’t have to clean that house! And the utility bill alone is over a quarter of a million dollars! Can someone say, turn off the air and open the windows!
We finally reached the top and met up with our tour guide. First step, pardon the pun, was to climb the stairway that revealed the beautiful Casa Del Sol, named for its view of the sunset over the Pacific. An impressive fountain stood in front of this guest house with a reproduction of the well-known David statue. One of many sculptures and statuary located throughout the estate.
Our tour, the Grand Rooms Tour, began in the main castle, Casa Grande. Our first room was the Assembly Room, the largest room in La Casa Grande. On display was one of Hearst’s many tapestries, this one of Flemish origin.
Here Hearst would greet his impressive list of guests. And it was impressive! Celebrities such as Joan Crawford, Bob Hope, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin and James Stewart, to presidents, Franklin Roosevelt and Calvin Coolidge as well as international figures such as Winston Churchill and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
Next up, we were taken through a secret door, one used by Hearst to enter the Assembly Room to greet his guests, to the Refectory, or dining room. (sorry for the blurry picture but it shows the immenseness of the room)
Hearst usually sat in the center with guests on either side. I love this part - the longer you stayed the further down the table you sat until eventually you reached the last chair which signaled it was time to leave. (you think?!) Check out the beautiful Italian silk flags, known as ward banners, that hang almost the full length of the ceiling.
And here’s a pretty cool fact, this room was used as the model for Harry Potter’s Hogwart school dining room.
If you’re a billiard lover, the billiard room was pretty cool. Two large tables set in a room with a gorgeous 15th century ceiling from NE Spain.
Many of the ceilings throughout the estate came from Italian churches and monasteries that were torn down and shipped to his estate then rebuilt.
Last stop inside the house was the Theater Room where we watched an old film. I could just imagine being there as one of William Hearst’s guests and catching one of his productions, starring his companion Marion Davies, or perhaps one of the popular films of the day.
Now to the part I was most anticipating - the lovely gardens and pools.
The garden setting was everything I could have hoped for, a journey of sensory overload! Purple hyacinths, trailing magenta bougainvillea, yellow roses, pink rhododendrons, red poppies, white jasmine - all with colors that popped and blended together while the mixture of scents lingered on the breeze.
And nestled among these blooms and tucked in secluded corners were numerous European sculptures and statues.
And the view – well it was spectacular!
Then came the pools. First was the Roman Pool, an indoor pool which is styled after the ancient baths of Rome. The pool is tiled with mosaics inspired by 5th century Italian tiles and 8 statues of Roman gods & goddesses, all carved in Italy in 1930, are set into a myriad of niches.
The pool walls are decorated from floor to ceiling with 1” square glass tiles, some in blue or orange and others that are clear with gold inside.
The walls of the room are marble, as is the ladder, and star studded mosaics cover the roof.
My favorite, second only to the gardens, was the Neptune pool. They were working on it while we were there but it didn’t take away from the beauty and grandeur of the design. The pool has a Roman temple front that was actually transported from Europe and reconstructed on site as well as marble statues of Neptune and Nereid. Vermont marble decorates the floor and side walls as well as the colonnade upon which you’ll see 17th century Italian bas-relief.
The view from this vantage point is breathtaking. You can see the San Simeon range and vistas of his huge ranch.
The pool itself is 104’ long, 58’ wide and ranges from 3.5’ deep to 10’ deep. Filling this pool takes a while since it holds a whopping 345,000 gallons of H2O!
Not often is anyone given permission to use this beautiful estate but Lady GaGa managed to receive the OK to film her G.U.Y. video by the pool and in several other parts of the estate. Doesn’t that make you want to go watch her video again?
I hope you enjoyed this tour. I highly recommend visiting this beautiful and quite extravagant estate for yourself. If we had a little more time during our visit we would have loved to have taken the Evening Tour as well.
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If you love California vistas, check out my first travel post on A Drive Along California Highway 1 Big Sur.
That was amazing! I can't imagine the wealth Hearst had to build such a fabulous place. It's even more amazing thinking that he actually had European churches disassembled so he could have a particular door or mantle. Thanks for the tour, it brings back memories.