Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark and California Historical Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. Designed by architect Julia Morgan, it was a residence for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst between 1919 and 1947. Hearst died in 1951, and it became a California State Park in 1958. Since that time, it has been operated as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument, where the estate, and its considerable collection of art and antiques, is open for public tours.
Hearst formally named the estate “La Cuesta Encantada” (“The Enchanted Hill”), but usually called it “the Ranch.” Hearst Castle and grounds are also sometimes referred to as “San Simeon,” without distinguishing between the Hearst property and the adjacent unincorporated area of the same name.
The Hollywood and political elite often visited in the 1920s and 1930s, usually flying into the estate’s airfield or taking a private Hearst-owned train car from Los Angeles along the coastal railroad route. Among Hearst’s guests were Charlie Chaplin, Cary Grant, the Marx Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Bob Hope, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Roosevelt, Dolores del Río, and Winston Churchill. While guests were expected to attend the formal dinners each evening, they were normally left to their own dwellings during the day while Hearst directed his business affairs. Since “the Ranch” had so many facilities, guests were rarely at a loss for things to do. The estate’s theater usually screened films from Hearst’s own movie studio, Cosmopolitan Productions.
Construction continued at Hearst Castle through 1947. William Randolph Hearst died in 1951, and in 1958 the Hearst Corporation donated the estate to the state of California. Hearst Castle joined the National Register of Historic Places on June 22, 1972, and became a United States National Historic Landmark on May 11, 1976.
One condition of the Hearst Corporation’s donation of the estate was that the Hearst family would be allowed to use it when they wished. Patty Hearst, a granddaughter of William Randolph, related that as a child, she hid behind statues in the Neptune Pool while tours passed by. Although the main estate is now a museum, the Hearst family continues to use an older Victorian house on the property as a retreat – the original house built by George Hearst in the late 19th century. The house is screened from tourist routes by a dense grove of eucalyptus trees to provide maximum privacy for the guests. In 2001, Patty Hearst hosted a Travel Channel show on the estate, and Amanda Hearst modeled for a fashion photo shoot at the estate for a Hearst Corporation magazine, Town and Country, in 2006.
Hearst Castle was the inspiration for the “Xanadu” mansion of the 1941 Orson Welles film Citizen Kane, a fictionalization of William Randolph Hearst’s career. Hearst Castle was not used as a location for the film. Instead the film used Oheka Castle in Huntington, New York, as well as buildings in San Diego’s Balboa Park. Commercial filming is rare at Hearst Castle, and most requests are turned down. Since the property was donated to the state of California, only two projects have been granted permission: Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus, which used the castle to stand in as Crassus’ villa, and Lady Gaga’s music video for “G.U.Y.”
Spanish style guest house, designed by Julia Morgan
Hearst Castle was included as one of America’s “10 Amazing Castles of America” by the now defunct Forbes Traveler.com. Forbes said, “Quite possibly the nation’s most famous castle, William Randolph Hearst went to great lengths to bring back the best of European architecture – most notably ceilings from churches and monasteries – which were pieced back together in California to create his highly eclectic Central Coast getaway
Wow!
Красиво жить не запретишь 🙂