Originally, Julia Morgan was the architect for William Randolph Hearst's mother and had also built some houses for Hearst prior to his mother's death.  His mother, however, would never let him buld at San Simeon because she thought he would waste too much money building a house on the hill.  At the time of his mother's death, there was no house in San Simeon but, out of his respect for his mother's death, Hearst waited two weeks before contacting Julia Morgan to build the estate; he said he had "to built a little something".  At first Morgan refused because she knew his mother didn't want him to build a home there; she reconsider and finally conceded based on hopes of being able to keep the costs and money spent to a minimum.

Born in 1872, Julia Morgan was encouraged to excell in her studies by her mother and at the time that she entered the University of California at Berkeley, she was only one of 20 women enrolled in the school and the only woman enrolled in the School of Engineering.  She was required to be chaperoned to and from the university (her family's home was seven miles away) every day by a brother; he also had to stay with her in her classes.  During her senior year, she met her mentor, Bernard Maybeck who encouraged Morgan to attend the French school that he attended, Ecole Nationale et Speciale des Beaux-Arts.  Because she was a woman, she was not allowed to pass the qualifying tests that were requred at Beaux-Arts; somehow, the school would not allow her to succeed and enter the school but, she kept applying and eventually, won a seat at the school.  She was graduated in 1902 afterr winning many contests for drafting and design.

At the time that they began the project, Julia Morgan was 47 years old; she had received a telegram from Hearst explaining that he wanted to speak with her about "a little project" he had for her to work on in California.  Originally, she had declined the offer but, after much persuasion, she conceded and was still involved in the project to the end of construction.  Over the course of her career, she built over 700 buildings including several structures at the University of California at Berkeley; more than 300 projects were built during the time that she was working on Hearst Castle.
 
 

William Randolph Hearst was born in 1863 to self-made millionaire and wife, George and Phoebe Apperson Hearst.  He was their only child and was, from an early age, allowed to travel to Europe with his mother.  It is said that he purchased his first antique, a tapestry, at the age of 9 on one of their tours.  He enrolled in Harvard College in 1882 but was asked to leave during his junior year.  During his time at the college, Hearst was the editor of the Harvard Lampoon and was involved with the Hasty Pudding Club.  At the age of 23, he became the editor and publisher of the San Francisco Examiner, a newspaper owned by his father but used this as a stepping stone to purchase or begin newspapers in New York, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, Boston and twenty other American cities.  He further enlarged his publishing empire by purchasing Connoisseur, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and several other magazines. It is noted in the book that as he aged, his interest in the theatre, politics and art collecting grew but his ability to live within his allowance did not grow.

Hearst married Millicent Willson, a New York entertainer that would later refuse to live at San Simeon; they had five sons: George, William Randolph Jr., John, Randolph and David.  Millicent and the boys primarily lived in New York but would have elaborate camping trips to the San Simeon hilltop before the house was built.

Hearst had a keen interest in politics and in 1902, he was elected and re-elected to a seat in the House of Representatives from New York for two terms but then he ran for Mayor of New York City but was not successful.  He did, however, win the democratic nomination for Governor of New York but did not win the seat.  He also attempted to win the presidency in 1908 and 1912 and even thought he was unsuccessful, because of his publishing empire, he commanded a great deal of power based on what he would or would not say in his newspapers and magazines about the candidates.  In 1913 he began a production company for newsreels, Cosmopolitan Productions; by the early 1920, Hearst had moved the company to California where he met Marion Davies, an actress, and eventually his mistress.  Ms. Davies and several other movie stars were under contract with Cosmopolitan and Hearst had forged an alliance with Louis B. Mayer at Metro-Goldwin-Mayer.

In 1919, thirty years after her husband's death, Phoebe Hearst past away from a case of the influenza epidemic that was sweeping the country.  That left the entire Hearst fortune, most of her art collections and widespread real estate (as much as 250,000 acres in California) and business holdings to William.  By 1937, after years of profligate spending and the Great Depression, Hearst and his media empire was $126 Million in debt.  The liquidation of some real estate holdings, newspapers and art and increased newspaper sales in World War II rescued the Hearst Corporation.

In 1948, due to failing health, Hearst left San Simeon for the last time; he died three years later in the home that he built for he and Davies to share in Beverly Hills.  When he left the Castle, work had just begun on the bowling alley that was going in under the theatre; it was never finished.
 
 
 

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Copyright © 2000 Marcia L. Dykstra. All Rights Reserved.