San Simeon -- Hearst Castle

Caption on verso. Postcard published by Plastichchrome by Colourpicture Publishers, Inc., Burton, Mass. // Distributed by P.C. Jones, Cambria, California // Color courtesy Sante Fe Railway System.

Also known as La Cuesta Encantada and the Hearst San Simeon Estate.

Hearst Castle, also known as San Simeon and La Cuesta Encantada (the Enchanted Hill), was the country estate of William Randolph Hearst. Between 1919 and 1947 the collaboration between Hearst and architect/landscape architect Julia Morgan resulted in the Moorish-style castle, ancillary buildings, and formal gardens that today comprise the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument. Located 35 miles north of San Luis Obispo along the coast in the Santa Lucia Mountains, the site's 127 acres of gardens and hardscaping feature a rose garden, specimen trees, flowering plants, and a creative use of sculpture, fountains, and terraces. The overall sense is of a Mediterranean garden tempered by 20th-century California sensibilities. In addition to the gardens in the vicinity of Hearst Castle itself, the larger site includes thousands of native and exotic trees planted along the two-mile roadway leading from Highway 1 up to the mansion area. Persons associated with the garden include: William Randolph Hearst (former owner, 1919-1951); Julia Morgan (architect and landscape architect, 1919-1947); Bruce Porter (landscape architect, 1923); Hugh Hazzard (head gardener, 1921-1922); Albert Webb (head gardener, 1922-1925 and 1930); Fred Macklin (head gardener, 1925-1928); James Chatfield (head gardener, 1928-1930); Nigel Keep (orchardman and tree planter, 1922-late 1930s); Gardner A. Dailey (landscape architect and plantsman, 1920s); Isabella Worn (landscape designer and horticulturist, 1926-early 1930s); Camille Rossi (construction superintendent, 1922-1932); and Norman Rotanzi (head gardener, 1934-1992).