Hearst Castle is an excellent vacation spot located in north central California. It was designed by an architect named Julia Morgan for the famous business magnate and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst. William Hearst inherited the land from his wealthy mining father, who originally purchased the land in 1865. From the mid 1900s it was used as national historic landmark mansion, used for the collection of ancient art and antiques. William Hearst used this castle to entertain the biggest politicians and Hollywood celebrities of his time. The former president, Winston Churchill , was one of the many guests of Hearst Castle, just for starters!
The main house of the castle is called the Casa Grande while three guest houses surround this main house. The castle itself is a magnificent mansion that contains one hundred and twenty seven acres of gardens, sixty one bathrooms, fifty six bedrooms, fourteen sitting rooms, forty one fire places, a movie theater, tennis courts, indoor and outdoor swimming pools (some with hand laid tiles), an airfield AND even a zoo.
Outside of the castle the grounds that surround the home are very impressive. The outdoor pool alone is an exquisite work of art, in its own right. This pool is called the Neptune Pool, which is designed after an ancient roman temple. An oil burning heating system is used to heat the pool and maintain it at cool ocean temperature. Around this pool is some stunning tile work, as well as in the floor of the pool. Attached to the pool are four seventeenth century Italian bas relief on the sides of the pool columns. Tons of Vermont marble was shipped to Hearst Castle, proper, to complete the project.
Julia Morgan (the architect) also designed the Hearst Castle zoo, which encompasses two thousand fenced in acres. Hearst brought in over thirty large varieties of animals- including tigers, bears, apes, ostriches, buffalo, yaks, emus, kangaroos, llamas, zebras and giraffes.
Hearst Castle is owned by State of California, as a historic park and offers six separate tours of the castle and the grounds.
Hearst Castle is one of the amazing places to be visited in California.
