William Randolph Hearst an Illustrated Biography

Excert from the flap: William Randolph Hearst and Hearst Castle. La Cuesta Encantada" The Enchanted Hill" was William Randolph Hearst's romantic name for his palatial mountaintop estate, located five miles from San Simeon Bay and 1,600 feet above it in the San Lucia Mountains. Hearst referred to his unique California creation as simply "the ranch." The now famous castle is situated on a prominent piont where it commands a dramatic view of the ranch lands owned by the Hearst family since 1865. Construction of the hilltop complex began in 1919, a few months after Hearst's mother, Phoebe Apperson Hearst, died. The three guest houses, the main building, and the indoor pool are all constructed of reinforced concrete, a building material resistant to earthquake and fire. The structures are decorated in the then-popular Mediterranean Revival Style, which reflects California's Spanish Colonial Heritage as well as its geopgraphic similarities with southern Europe. Heast commissioned Julia Morgan, an Ecole des Beaux-Arts-trained architect with a successful practice in the San Franciso Bay area, to design the buildings as residences as well as showcases for the journalist's vast art collection. Hearst was host to numerous guests durin his frequent visits to San Simeon. Actors and actresses, prominent statesmen and politicians and newspaper executives and reporters all enjoyed the Hearst's generous hospitality. Construction continued until almost unabated until 1947, when ill health forced Hearst to leave his isolated ranch for a home in Los Angeles, where he died in 1951 at the age of 88. In 1958, Hearst Castle was deeded to the State of California as a memorial to Phebe Apperson Hearst and as a gift to the people of the Golden State. Thousands of people visit Hearst Castle each year, many for the 2nd & 3rd time. Certainly anyone who visits the Castle can appreciate Hearst's enchantment with Sam Simeon.