May 20, 2026
This morning we went for the Casa Grande Tour of Hearst Castle. There were multiple tours to select from. Barry and I thought this one sounded like the best one to provide a good introduction to this massive estate. We can always come again and take a different tour.
We arrived plenty early to ensure easy parking with Sadie. It was a non-issue, but that allowed us to switch our tour time to an earlier one and still have time to watch the 45-minute documentary movie first. OMG. What an incredible documentary! First of all it was NOT your typical black and white documentary you typically see at places. This was on a 40ft screen! The first scene was like being on the Disney “Soarin'” ride! So cool. The cinematography was beautiful. The movie began with George Hearst (William’s father) and his discovery of ore that was silver! George never worried about money again. It went on to show William Randolph Hearst’s childhood and his time at his family’s “Camp Hill”, and the extensive summer traveling he did with his mother. Much that he saw abroad made such an impression on him that he drew from those experiences as he began creating his dream of the Hearst Castle.
There were incredible relief sculptures, marble sculptures and bronze statues throughout the Casa Grande grounds.
For the creation, building of Hearst Castle, W.R Hearst partnered with the amazing architect Julia Morgan. It was an exceptional task as it continually evolved and expanded to what exists today as the vast Hearst Castle complex. Hearst never considered the estate completely “finished”, but when he died everyone considered it completed.
Julia was the first woman accepted at the most prestigious architectural school in Paris. In principle, they admit only the top 30 from the yearly entrance exam. Her first year she was below the top 30, the 2nd year she was well in the top 30 but her marks were “arbitrarily lowered” by the examiners! On her 3rd attempt, however, she ranked 13 out of 376 applicants. They had to accept her. She became the first woman to earn a certificate of architecture from the school, AND she completed it in three years instead of the usual five years! In 1904, Morgan became the first woman to obtain an architecture license in California.
The Gorgeous Outdoor Swimming Pool
Originally there was not going to be a pool, but with 5 boys Hearst and his wife decided they needed one. Hearst changed his mind during construction, not once but twice! Therefore, this finished pool is the third one after all the changes and enlargements! The inner oval seen on the pool bottom represents the size of the 2nd one.
Garden and Courtyards
The number of courtyards and sitting areas were thoughtfully placed to relax and enjoy nature. In fact, Hearst and architect Julia Morgan planned the entire estate around the existing coastal live oak trees that grew on the land. There was at least one that could not be planned around, but Hearst would not cut it down. Instead, he hired house movers to carefully remove it and transplant it elsewhere on the property. NOT an easy or inexpensive process!
In addition, Hearst brought in over 100,000 trees! It was an eclectic mix that included an array of palm species like the Canary Island Date Palms, cypress trees-especially Italian cypress, giant oaks, eucalyptus, cedar of Lebanon and redwoods. These all worked together to beautifully transform the barren hilltop.
The OLDEST sculptures at Hearst Castle! Below in the Art Deco fountain are sculptures of the Egyptian goddess Sekhmet. The four lion-headed statues are over 3,000 years old! They date back to 1550-1070 BC.
A quote from Dan Falat, the superintendent of State Parks San Luis Obispo Coast District: “Ultimately, trees and shrubs will eventually die. It’s part of the life cycle, the beauty and wonder of nature. Our job is to honor that while keeping things as close as possible to how they were when Mr. Hearst was here.”
They went great lengths for about 75-100 years to protect the diseased Coast Live Oak No 7 till it finally had to be removed a couple years ago.
Read more at: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/article288594923.html#storylink=cpy
Above the door detail…
Looking up at the underside of the two balconies…although the upper one was harder to see much detail.
Our guide turned into the building and therefore everyone followed. Since there was a bit of back up entering, I took the opportunity to quickly check out this small area immediately to the right. It seemed less impressive, but I’m glad I did or I would have missed a charming little fountain!
The staffer bringing up the rear smiled and said, “Yeah, that’s one of my favorites. It isn’t always on.” It definitely loses the full effect if it isn’t!
“Assembly Room” – This is the room where Hearst’s guests would gather till he came down to greet them.
Entry doors were quite ornately carved as were the ceilings.
Six giant tapestries graced the large upper portions of the four walls.
Games at tables for guests to use.
The beautifully carved “seats” along each wall are from churches/cathedrals/monasteries.
The fireplace was quite impressive in size alone, but with a room this size it had to be proportional to it to be functional for heat. The furniture had their summer protection covers put on last week. I wondered what the real upholstery was like. These were a bit much for me. With these massive rooms with such high ceilings the rugs, upholstered furniture and tapestries were of course important for comfort, and aesthetics, but they also were crucial for dampening sound when people were in the rooms.
This HUGE book on this table caught my eye, so I asked the staff member who brought up the rear of our tour group what it was. I thought it was possibly Hearst’s personal “guest book” since it was here in the Assembly Room, but I was wrong. It was a book of Gregorian chants! I NEVER would have guess that! LOL He told me that the print was about 3 inches, and that many pages were damaged, so Julia Morgan took some pages out and used them as lamp shades.
He also mentioned that we could see one at the museum. Here it is.
An alcove area at one end of the gathering room where one could enter or exit.
Below is the “secret” door that leads to the elevator that Hearst used to come down to greet his guests.
Refectory Room – A refectory is a formal dining hall for communal eating commonly use in monasteries. It makes more sense to me that this dining area is called a refectory with the style of the room and the “seating” along the long walls.
I was quite curious about these “mini-seats”, so I asked our unofficial guide about them since our guide never mentioned them. These came from monasteries and/or cathedrals.
These lined both of the long walls of the communal dining room. They are “relief seats” or more like relief ledges where a choir member (or others?) may use for a little relief when needing to stand for long periods of time during a service. This higher mini seat allows for support without being noticeable. The upper back can actually fold down 90 degrees to create a full seat as demonstrated with the one on far right with the red pillow. Looking at the front edge of the full seat I could then see that the relief ledge is now under the full seat. These were not used for extra dining seating.
I didn’t realized till looking later at my pictures that these were the same as those lining sections of the walls in the Assembly Room. Those in the Assembly Room were all displayed using the full seat version, so while I appreciated the wood carving of them, they didn’t prompt my curiosity as they did here.
An inner hallway we passed on our way to the Morning Room.
Morning Room – This was used often in the evening as an option after dinner for smoking.
Billiards Room – Standard Billiards and French Carom
Carom Billiards – French game also called 3 Cushions. There are NO pockets to sink a ball into! Carom uses only 3 balls: one white, one, yellow, and one red. The balls are bigger and heavier than traditional billiard balls, and the table is significantly longer with felt than runs faster. Player one is the white ball, and player 2 is the yellow ball. The object is to hit your ball into either the red or opponent ball, but before hitting the ball that is left, your ball must tap 3 rails or cushions. If you hit one ball, 3 cushions and then the last ball, you score 1 point. You take another turn and keep going till you no longer score. When the person doesn’t not score, the other play begins his turn. I think this would be fun!
I believe these were to hold cigars. One was located by each pool table.
Beautiful colors still present in this luxury tapestry.
MOVIE ROOM – All guests were expected to attend the late evening movie here, and it was truly LATE in the evening – like 11:30PM to start!
Hearst had many guests at his place that included popular Hollywood celebrities such as Greta Garbo, Betty Grable, Joan Crawford, Jean Harlow, Marion Davies, Cary Grant, Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers, Bob Hope, James Stewart, David Niven, and Clark Gable. Visitors outside of the Hollywood scene included people like, Calvin Coolidge, Winston Churchill, Charles Lindbergh and George Bernard Shaw.
Who was Hearst’s wife?
William Randolf Hearst met Millicent Veronica Willson in 1896. She was only 16; he was 33. They married seven years later and had 5 sons! Millicent and Hearst separated in the mid-1920’s when she got tired of the her husband’s highly publicized, long-term affair with actress Marion Davies. (Notice Marion’s name was in bold above.) Millicent and Hearst never divorced, and were officially still married upon his death in 1951.
While separated from Millicent, Marion and Hearst lived together openly for the rest of his life. There was still drama at the castle when there was rumor of an ongoing affair between Charlie Chaplin and Marion Davies. Chaplin had an open invitation to the castle, but due to Hearst’s jealousy, Chaplin was then only permitted to visit when Hearst was also present.
A link to read more.
More sculptures and gardens
TENNIS COURTS – If Hearst was building today, it would be pickleball courts for sure!! 🙂
The Huge INDOOR SWIMMING POOL! (situated under the tennis courts)
WOW!
Diving platform
The pool bottom –
The original ceiling had the same look, but due to the flat tennis court located above the pool, rain never drained off the courts properly. The standing water ended up leaking through damaging the pool ceiling tile to the point it had to be removed.
Next thing we knew, we were boarding our shuttle to head back to the Visitor Center.
Hearst wanted a pergola built to cover the entire bridle trail up to Camp Hill (Hearst Castle). He had it covered in beautiful flora for shade and aesthetics. We got glimpses of the structures as we were shuttled back down to the Visitor Center and parking lot.
WHAT? A ZOO! Are you kidding me!?!
Yes, Hearst had a zoo built using European standards. He even had POLAR BEARS! When money was an issue for a time, and Hearst was almost bankrupt, most of the exotic animals either went to the San Diego or the San Francisco zoos. But the zebras remained and descendants are here roaming wild today. There are about 150+, but we didn’t see any. Maybe next time. 🙂 Below are some of the animal enclosure areas as we passed by them on our way down. (Marion Davies saved Hearst from bankruptcy when she gave him $1 million! That would be equivalent to about $19 million today!)
We were told that all the land you can look out and see from the Hearst Castle grounds is all Hearst land! Here are some of those views:
Inside the Visitor Center:
I saw this and loved the way the zebra and Hearst Castle were incorporated together. Since downsizing 8 years ago, when I see something I would be tempted to purchase, I take a picture of it instead. That way I keep the memory. It makes me smile and I can share it with others, but I don’t have to find space for it in our RV/home. It really works for me. I looked to see if they had a sticker like it.
This was as close as I could get. I put it in my daily travel journal.
It’s only about 12:30 and our adventures today are not over. We are going to see if there are any elephant seals nearby!
What a remarkable report! Thanks! We spent about three hours there some years back, and I was overwhelmed by the place – some much to see and take in. Peace!