Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle, formally La Cuesta Encantada, is a historic estate at San Simeon on the Central Coast of California. It was conceived by the publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst and designed by architect Julia Morgan, and was built between 1919 and 1947. George Hearst had bought the original 40,000-acre estate in 1865, and Camp Hill, the site of the future castle, was used for family camping when Hearst was young. He commissioned Morgan in 1919, shortly after his mother's death, asking for 'something a little more comfortable up on the hill'. It is now a museum open to the public as a California State Park, and a National Historic Landmark.