Built in 1919–1947, this large Spanish Colonial Revival and Mediterranean Revival-style mansion, known as Hearst Castle, or La Cuesta Encantada, was designed by Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst, a significant publisher. The mansion and its surrounding gardens and terraces sit atop a hill in the midst of the Hearst Ranch, which was purchased by George Hearst, the father of William Randolph Hearst, in 1865, with the Hearst family often camping atop the hill where the mansion stands today during William’s childhood. Upon the death of Phoebe Hearst, the mother of William Randolph Hearst, in 1919, the ranch was inherited by William, and he began the process of designing and building the mansion in conjunction with Julia Morgan, an architect based in San Francisco, who was the first woman to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in 1898.
The house’s construction began with the construction of a water reservoir and aqueduct, which collected and carried water from a hilltop on the ranch to the mansion site, and work on the mansion commenced, with the first phase of the project being completed in December of 1925, allowing the Hearst family to take up residence at the mansion. During the subsequent decade, the mansion continued to evolve and grow into the complex that can be seen today, coming to a halt with the financial difficulties encountered by Hearst in the late 1930s. Hearst resided at the castle until World War II began in the Pacific, returning to the mansion in 1945 for one last phase of construction, which ended in 1947. The mansion, by this point, had grown into a multi-building complex, with three guest houses, Casa del Mar, Casa del Monte, and Casa del Sol, a large main house, Casa Grande, which was modeled on a gateway in Seville and the Santa Maria la Mayor Church in Ronda, Spain, and a bunker-like building with tennis courts on the roof, which houses the heavily ornamented Roman Pool. Around the houses are terraces and gardens, with the largest terrace surrounding the outdoor Neptune Pool, which is flanked by semi-circular colonnades. Service buildings surround the mansion on three sides, which sit lower than the house, allowing for unobstructed views from the house and its surrounding gardens and terraces.
The mansion’s three guest houses were meant to resemble the houses of a Spanish rural village, with the main house resembling a large church at the center of a village. The houses vary in size, with red hipped spanish tile roofs, stucco-clad exteriors, bracketed eaves, colorful tiles, rear loggias with views of the surrounding landscape, and decorative stone trim. The main house features towers modeled on the Santa Maria la Mayor Church, flanking a central facade based on a gate in Seville, Spain, with a large, nave-like front wing that branches into two smaller L-shaped wings to the rear, flanking a courtyard. The main house is clad in stucco with a red spanish tile roof, colorful tiles, stone trim, and various elements based on Renaissance and Medieval European architecture. The house hosted many of the nation’s rich and famous during its ownership by Hearst, including US President Calvin Coolidge, United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill, various movie stars, and various writers, intellectuals, and other celebrities. The castle’s grand and sumptuous interiors were enjoyed by these visitors, as well as Hearst himself and his mistress, Marion Davies, including the Assembly Room, home to various tapestries and elements salvaged from buildings in France and Italy, the Refectory, modeled on a grand Renaissance-era Italian Palazzo dining hall, a Library based on grand Renaissance-era Spanish and Italian interiors, a Billiard room with a ceiling sourced from Spain and a fireplace sourced from France, a large Theater with red damask curtains and golden caryatids, and a Morning Room, which features a ceiling sourced from Spain.
The house remained in the Hearst family after the death of William Randolph Hearst in 1951, with his family keeping ownership of the house until it, along with the immediate surroundings, was deeded to the State of California in 1958, after which it began to offer tours to the public and serve as a historical house museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Today, the surrounding estate remains in operation under the ownership of the Hearst Corporation, while the mansion and visitor center are owned and operated by the State of California, which provides tours of the mansion and maintains the mansion as a museum, interpreting the life of William Randolph Hearst, the legacy of Julia Morgan, and the historic artifacts and architecture of the mansion.
