Monday, February 21, 2011

Hearst Castle

At the end of this week, I'm traveling to California's central coast for my son's blessing.  We'll be staying in Cayucos, CA just south of Hearst Castle, the famous home of William Randolf Hearst.  I grew up in Paso Robles, 40 miles east of the Hearst property and always enjoyed living so close to the castle.  Since my very first visit as a child, I have been in awe of the indoor pool.  The astonishing tile work is awesome to behold in person. Its like a Classical Roman dream-scape. 






Here is the man himself.



He began building the castle in 1919 and never finished construction.  You can see the castle below, perched atop the coastal mountain range.  At one time, the property included 240,000 acres of property surrounding the castle.  This included 60 miles of the California coast line. 





Here is Hearst with his architect, Julia Morgan.



If you have a chance to meet Hearst Castle in person, I highly recommend it.  I probably won't have an opportunity to see it during my visit this weekend, but I love that this amazing castle in the clouds has always been in the back yard of my home town of Paso Robles.  I'll make sure to wave as I drive by.

7 comments:

Coastal Detour said...

Have a wonderful blessing. And thanks for posting this. It is one of those things I've always heard about but never bothered to look up. We have the Biltmore House here in NC - the Vanderbilt's home - and so that is our castle. This one is just gorgeous and now I want to visit.

Mary said...

I have always wanted to visit this place and had the opportunity to do so last Spring. Too bad I didn't purchase tickets in advance, when we got there the tours were booked for the entire day. Talk about a let down. I am pretty sure I shed a tear in the parking lot! I felt like a little girl at the gates of Disneyland being told I couldn't get in! Haha.

Alcira Molina-Ali said...

Great post -- I've always been rather fascinated by the story of this place and that grand indoor pool.
Congrats on the Elle Decor mention ;) -- that's wonderful and very deserved.
Cheers and have a nice week, hug the babies, Alcira

nerochronicles.com

Loretta Fontaine (EcoHappy Blog) said...

I've been there and the pool is indeed magnificent!

Julia Morgan was a groundbreaker not only as a woman in her field, but she brought back a lot of new construction ideas from Europe, such as reinforced concrete. She was amazing.

You were so lucky to have the castle in your backyard!

Loretta

Anonymous said...

As pretty as these pools are..Something about these pictures rubs me in a wrong way.. Very strange and scary.

Madeleine said...

Great photos! I'm fairly new to California (and the US), and will definitely add this to my list of places to see.

Hansel Rodriguez said...

I have been their its a really beutifull place.