Hearst Castle

Hearst and the architect Julia Morgan worked on this from 1919 to 1947 and never called it done - the estate, with the main house Casa Grande and its guest houses, has some 165 rooms, among them between forty-two and fifty-six bedrooms by different counts. Morgan was the first woman licensed as an architect in California and ran the whole project. Much of what is in it is genuinely old and imported: Roman sarcophagi, Spanish choir stalls, a complete carved ceiling. The Neptune Pool outside is faced in marble with a Roman temple front assembled from real antique fragments; it has been drained for repairs at times because it leaks. Hearst kept a private zoo, and zebras still graze the estate land below.

Highlights

• Casa Grande - the main house, never finished.
• The Neptune Pool - marble, with genuine antique temple fragments.
• Imported European fabric - sarcophagi, choir stalls, carved ceilings.
• Zebras on the estate land - left from Hearst's private zoo.

When to go

April to October. Half a day.

Things to know

Access is by guided tour only, booked ahead, and each tour covers a different part. The bus up takes fifteen minutes each way. Highway 1 closures from landslides have cut access for long periods. The Neptune Pool has been empty during repairs.

Nearby

The elephant seal rookery is up the coast; Cambria is south.

Key facts