An Extravagant 165-Room Mansion Dreamed Up By William Hearst Filled From Top To Bottom With Historic And Modern Art
Sitting high on a hill in San Simeon, California - overlooking 250,000 scenic, colorful acres full of gardens and beautiful sweeping vistas overlooking mountains along the coastline - is the Hearst Castle, an extravagant, enormous 165-room mansion dreamed up by William Randolph Hearst and created by architect Julia Morgan, filled from top to bottom with historic and modern art. Untouched since Hearst's death, the castle is an intimate and often inspiring look back at Hearst's life, a glimpse into his dreams and aspirations.
“Everybody has dreams. Everybody has goals,” explains Director of Public Relations (and past tour guide and research assistant) Jim Allen. “Here was a person who had a lot of financial resources, but it was still an extraordinary effort. It was a multi-decade project. To see it come to life, especially at a time when many people around his age start to gear down... He was 50 when he took on this ambitious task.”
When Hearst first began on his endeavor…the hill it's built upon was very remote…There were no roads leading to it…and no highways along the California coast. Despite building the mansion in an environment that was completely wild and uncontrolled at the time, the mansion is still “harmonious with the natural landscape,” notes Allen. “Unlike most of coastal California – which is highly developed – this area is virtually unchanged. When you stand on top of the hill and look around you're looking at a historically unchanged area. The world changes and grows and that's a natural thing. But it’s nice from a historical perspective to see a home with original art and furniture – which is quite rare – and to have the environment around it unchanged. [The area around the castle is] still a cattle ranch and [it is] still all undeveloped land. You're seeing it the way [the] movie stars saw it…[the way Hearst’s] colleagues saw it when they visited…the way Hearst himself saw it. The story of the person and the place are very intertwined.”
The Hearst Castle's Casa Grande is 68,500 square feet, with 38 bedrooms, 42 bathrooms and 14 sitting rooms. It also has a billiard room, a theater, a library, a study, a beauty salon, a kitchen and staff dining room. There are also many guest houses around the estate with a total of 46 rooms and an indoor and outdoor pool. The property is bursting with art from top to bottom, with every piece of décor and all of the furniture carefully and specifically chosen by Hearst.
And that's part of what makes the Hearst Castle so unique: While there were many large mansions built in the early and mid-1900s (some even bigger than the Hearst Castle, including his three other homes), there were no others this unique and personal. Unlike most, Hearst didn't hire consultants. He didn't have curators. Rather, he created the Hearst Castle to make it his own, from top to bottom.
The Hearst Castle history began in 1865, when George Hearst purchased 40,000 acres of ranch land. In 1919, Hearst inherited his parents' property, a hilltop that his parents often took him camping on. The property meant a lot to Hearst, who was born on April 29, 1863 in San Francisco, California, an only child.
After touring Europe with his mother, Hearst continued his education at Harvard, where he excelled in journalism and became the business manager at the Harvard Lampoon. It was only just the beginning of his incredible journey into journalism and publishing.
Shortly after Harvard, Hearst purchased the New York Journal. According to Allen, Hearst once owned more than two dozen newspapers nationwide and one in four Americans received their news from a Hearst paper. In the 1920s, Hearst entered radio broadcasting and became a major producer of movie newsreels, producing over 100 films under his Hearst Metrotone News company. In the 1940s, he was known as an early pioneer of television.
Despite growing up wealthy and never having to work his whole life, Hearst was always looking for new and innovative ways to entertain and inform. “Plenty of people are wealthy, but not everybody does something with it,” continues Allen. “[Hearst] never needed to work. He inherited so much money. But he went out and created thousands of jobs for people, created beautiful places and worked hard into his 80s. I thought it was interesting that he was so involved in the world and fascinated with things and loved to travel and learn new things. And [that] he [still] loved to work and apply himself.”
Outside of work, Hearst was very interested in collecting art, specifically American and European paintings, sculptures, tapestries and rugs, as well as Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiques, silver and furniture. He also dreamed of living in a castle similar to the ones he saw while traveling Europe with his mother as a child.
The Hearst Castle started construction in 1919 and was worked on into the late 1940s. Despite never being full completed, the castle has an extensive history and a more than complete art collection. There are over 22,000 original pieces at the Hearst Castle on display.
According to Allen, there's so much going on in each room. Some rooms are 2,500 square feet…bigger than some average American homes. Many items can be lost to the eye…including the significant tapestry collection, which was recently on display at the Getty Museum in Southern, California.
“There's such a broad depth of art here,” said Allen. “There's not enough time to take everything in. It's a delight to many people [because] they feel transported somewhere else, whether it's back to when Hearst himself lived here, or even back to ancient Egypt.”
Many visitors are not only in awe, but also a little confused, says Allen. A lot of people try to understand “why someone would build something so large and grandiose [when] they realize their house would fit into one of the rooms.” Plus it wasn't even the only home Hearst had. It was his favorite though. And while not many people can build anything even remotely close to the Hearst Castle (“It probably wouldn't even be possible to build this today.”), it's the glimpse into Hearst's personal likes, his passion, his goals, that people can relate to.
“There were 10,000 letters exchanged between Hearst and [architect Julia] Morgan. From gardens and plant material to art objects and furniture to architectural elements and décor, there's a universal interest [and similarity] in people having a dream home and wondering how it would be. This is an opportunity to see how one person created their dream home.”
A visit to the Hearst Castle is an interactive and in- depth art and history lesson. But it's also a source of inspiration. Unchanged after all these decades, the Heart Castle is a look at someone's dream coming true. Allen hopes it will inspire others to pursue their own dreams, however challenging they may seem.
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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