Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Happy St. Patty’s Day! We are still camped El Chorro Regional Park
near Morro Bay, California. Today was
errand day – post office, lunch, groceries and diesel in San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo is the home of California
Polytechnic State University, usually referred to as Cal Poly.
Yesterday, we visited Hearst Castle, built by
William Randolph Hearst who built a publishing empire, which still exists
today. The Castle itself was turned over
to the state as a museum after his death.
When Hearst’s mother died in 1919, he inherited
this land, which he always loved. He had
grown up on the cattle ranch here, with lots of trips around the rest of the
world. His father had made his fortune
in mining ores and invested in California real estate – cattle ranches. He owned 100’s of square miles in this area
and the Hearst family still raises cattle here. The family home was at the foot
of the hill, but their favorite camping site was here where Hearst Castle
is. (Hearst always called it the
Ranch.) Shortly after his mother’s
death, he started building.
Did he go to a local contractor and ask for a
small cabin? No, he hired Julia Morgan,
one of the first women architects and a contemporary of Frank Lloyd
Wright. Hearst Castle is the result.
Julia Morgan built many buildings in San
Francisco after the 1906 earthquake and earthquake resistance was a priority
for both Hearst and Morgan. The
buildings are built of heavily reinforced concrete and withstood a 6.5
earthquake in 2003. No structural damage
was found. Several pots broke but have
been repaired. Both tour guides
mentioned how little damage was done.
Julia Morgan must have been quite a lady. She worked with Hearst for 28 years
building, tearing out and rebuilding the castle. And finished over 700 other projects. The castle is still unfinished. Check the tower on the far right in the
picture above. The finish layer on the
outside hasn’t been done. In 1947,
Hearst’s doctors ordered him to move to Los Angeles for medical care. Although Hearst lived another 4 years, work
stopped shortly after his move. One of
the conditions of the gift to the state was that it remain as Hearst left it.
Hearst had fun here. He invited many people to visit and wanted to
make sure they had fun. Horseback
riding, hiking, checking out his private zoo, tennis, pool, snooker, cards and
board games were all available. As were
two swimming pools – the outdoor pool, which is undergoing repairs:
And the indoor pool (my favorite):
Hearst was an avid collector. There are over 20,000 museum quality objects
in the house and that was about a tenth of his collection. The objects include not only statues and pottery,
but books, rugs, walls, ceilings, tapestry, paintings, mosaics, anything you
might see in a museum.
The guide said that they no longer take people
through the front door because it opens on a roman mosaic floor. Apparently they hadn’t realized it’s age
until some work was done on it a few years ago.
This is the front door.
But while the castle was filled with priceless
antiques, Hearst wanted it to be a casual place. Here’s the table set for lunch (sorry the
picture is out of focus), but you can see the ketchup and mustard on the table
with the paper napkins. The guide said
the glasses and silverware were commonly available in any store, although you still had to worry about picking up the wrong fork.
But what made this place so special were the
views. To the west of course is the ocean.
And to the east, the hills of the ranch, which
extends as far as you can see.
And yes, that’s a lemon. Here at the castle, spring was in full force
and the smell was heavenly.
Some of the bedrooms had views in both
directions, but Hearst’s room had the sea view.
It’s a lovely place and well worth the visit.
Deb
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