HEARST CASTLE TOUR Upstairs Suites Guest Houses Kitchen Part 2 San Simeon California

Most people come to Hearst Castle without knowing much about the person truly responsible for turning William Randolph Hearst's fantasy into a reality. Julia Morgan, the first licensed female architect on the west coast and one of the most prolific designers of her time, shattering gender barriers in the architecture and design industry along the way. Her genius is woven throughout the estate in details most visitors walk right on past. So today we're heading behind the curtain into the suites where guests actually stayed, the cottages tucked along the hill, the working kitchen and pantry that kept this whole world running and even the wine cellar that kept the fantasy fueled and the private rooms where Hearst guests never got to see. Plus we're diving deeper into the women behind Hearst Castle who in different ways were the backbone of this place and the inspiration behind the media tycoon's dreams. Hi I'm Allie and welcome back to Fab where we celebrate the love for vintage home. If you love these historic house tours make sure to subscribe, hit the notification bell and tune in each week because I have a whole slew of these coming your way and you're not going to want to miss out. So let's keep the dream alive together of sharing these historic houses across America with the rest of the world. Now let's head back to Hearst Castle for part two of our complete Hearst Castle tour series. At a time when architecture and design was overwhelmingly dominated by men, Julia Morgan stood out to Hearst for a very specific reason. Her skills in engineering set her apart from others including the men in her field. Julia Morgan graduated from UC Berkeley in civil engineering in 1894, the only woman in her class and by the time Hearst hired her in 1919 she was already proven with over 700 projects to her name and a reputation for being able to execute at the highest level which is exactly what Hearst needed for this massive undertaking. She was not only the architect, she was the engineer behind the build, the interior designer behind all of the rooms and the landscape architect who choreographed the whole estate and the grounds into one unified world. Julia Morgan essentially ran the construction site on the hill for years. Throughout the entirety of the project, making on-the-spot decisions and staying in very close contact with Hearst as he traveled, refining his vision after meetings, letters, telegrams, as the estate evolved, Hearst seemed to have a deep respect for her and her craft. So if you were wondering what it might have been like to work with Hearst and his personality, imagine a client with unlimited taste, unlimited opinion, and endless budget. Hearst constantly asked for changes and Morgan took it all in stride. She had the rare ability to stay steady as the vision kept evolving. Because she didn't just design the place, she gave it her life's energy. Year after year, problem after problem, and change after change, she was the steady force behind the enchanted hill. The one not only making it beautiful but making it possible. Hearst might have owned the dream but Julia Morgan is the one who nurtured it. In many ways, she became the quiet guardian of La Cuesta Encantada and you can feel her brilliance in every public space, private room, and in each hidden detail, both practical and beautiful, all reinforcing the intention and the love that went into creating this place. By the mid-1920s, Hearst Castle had become one of the extraordinary gathering places in America. It's a home built around the art that lives inside of it and the views that surround it. There are three guest houses arranged like a semicircle along the hill and Hearst used these as another big opportunity to impress his guests. He wanted them to have everything that they possibly could ever need while they were here. Comfort, privacy, their own world of art and beauty right in front of them, sometimes even more curated than parts of the main house itself. This is Casa Del Mar, the house of the sea, and the largest of the three guest houses because it commands one of the most sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean and San Simeon and honestly, this entire cottage is a visual feast. There are 18 rooms across the three levels including eight bedrooms, six baths, plus a sitting room, lobbies, and a loggia. Casa Del Mar was also one of the most complex of the early projects here at San Simeon. It took longer to complete than the other two guest houses, partially because of shipping delays, the difficulty of executing the decoration that the designs required, and the fact that the designs kept changing again and again as Hearst kept changing his mind. And this is one of the front bedrooms. These beds are Spanish from the 10th century. Casa Del Mar is one of the most richly detailed of the guest houses. This is the lower lobby and the ceiling instantly commands your attention. Copied straight from a 16th century ceiling in Valencia, Spain. It feels like a museum in here. In fact, while the big house was still being finished, Hearst initially considered Casa Del Mar as his home here. The lobby and this guest house alone is filled with pieces that are worthy enough to be in a museum. This is exactly one of the many reasons why it must have felt so incredible to stay here as a guest at Hearst Castle. Hearst wanted you to feel like you were inside a layered collage. This was the constant exercise for Julia Morgan to build entire rooms around real centuries old pieces as if we were living right in history itself. And she did a phenomenal job of this everywhere throughout the estate. This is the bedroom that Hearst actually stayed in while he was waiting for Casa Grande to be completed. He also returned here to stay when he was getting older and when the stairs in the main house were too much for him. And I can see why he liked this room so much. For its views of the ocean of course, but also this fireplace, the artwork, everything looks like it's been lifted straight out of Europe. And the bathroom is larger than any of the others I've seen in the guest cottages. It's absolutely spectacular. There's even an attached sitting room right here where he would work and do whatever he needed to do in peace while the rest of the property was still being worked on. And now we're heading through the back entrance to the lower level of Casa Del Mar. There's a bedroom right here that's next to the lower lobby which joins the two bedrooms downstairs. Taking center stage in here we see the Madonna and Child, an Italian piece from the 16th century. And then we're in the other bedroom down here which is also spectacular. The bronze statue out here is actually a princess holding a crowned frog, depicting the moment before she kisses it to turn him into a prince. And the next cottage we're touring is Casa Del Monte, House of the Mountains. And it's the smallest of the three guest houses, but don't let that fool you. It still has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, plus a central sitting room and foyer. Originally the guest houses had one large bathroom for the guests to share, but Julia Morgan convinced Hearst to split these large bathroom spaces into smaller private Jack and Jill bathrooms. I know this is a common design feature today, but back then it was new and it was extremely innovative for its time. And the sitting room looks out towards the Santa Lucia Mountains, so the whole vibe here is just breathtaking and really takes advantage of its scenery around it. Really painting almost an old world renaissance fantasy. That's exactly the vibe that Hearst wanted and Morgan provided here. The cast plaster ceilings here were inspired by photographs of historic 15th and 16th renaissance Italian and Spanish ceilings. This is exactly what must have made Hearst Castle so incredible to experience as a guest. The lobby in this guest cottage alone is filled with pieces that would be museum level worthy anywhere else. The room is designed with symmetry in mind. There were not enough antique window and door frames to fully complete the rooms, so some are cast plaster copies made to exactly match the originals. Most of the chests and cabinets in here are Italian from the 16th and 17th centuries. There is just such a great mix of Spanish and Italian pieces all from the 16th and 17th centuries that are spread across this entire house. Now you might look at all of this and assume that William Hearst was deeply religious, but that actually wasn't the case. For him this was all much less about devotion and more about beauty. These were the styles he fell in love with when he was in Europe and the kinds of objects that he couldn't stop collecting and he wanted to surround himself with all of it here. This hilltop became a place where he could bring everything he loved into one single world. Architecture, art, fine craftsmanship, and good times all happening right here on the enchanted hill. And now we're at Casa del Sol, the house of the sun. It's the medium-sized guest house out of the three on the property. This one feels completely different from the others. It's all about warmth and color with this more southern Spanish influence that you can spot right away in the tile, the round arched windows. Now I didn't tour inside Casa del Sol on this trip. I did three tours and four would have been overkill, but I still wanted to mention it because it is the third guest cottage. It's a full guest house with eight bedrooms, two sitting rooms designed so guests could really be settled and feel at home. Out in front there's a bronze copy of Donatello's David placed as the focal point above the fountain. Everything about Casa del Sol is positioned to catch the golden light coming in, windows opening towards the warmth of the day and the glow of the setting sun. La Casa Grande has 38 bedrooms and most of them were designed for guests. And honestly this is the one that makes people stop in their tracks, the Doja Suite. It's the largest guest suite inside of named for the Doja's Palace and Palazzo San Marco in Venice. In the north Doja's bedroom, the bed is made of walnut with a headboard that shows a coat of arms from another family, an embroidered altar frontal above it, silk with gold and silver from the 17th century in Spain. The layout is classic, a sitting room at the center with two equal sized bedrooms on either side plus two baths between the first and second floors so it feels tucked away, private but still close to the life of the house. And the atmosphere in here is pure old world fantasy, silk wall hangings and Italian furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries, the kind of room that's designed to feel like you've stepped into a renaissance palazzo. And you can feel that Venetian inspiration immediately, especially in those carved marble archways along the balcony. And above you the ceiling is incredibly layered, a Dutch oval painting from the 16th century surrounded by 18th century Italian carved and painted wood reliefs. In the south Doja's bedroom, the bedposts and the tapestry are from the 16th and 17th centuries. Everything in here just feels so richly layered in history. And these are the cloisters, a set of four guest bedrooms located on the second floor. They're flanked by open walkways which is why this whole area feels almost like a private passageway inside the house. And what's really interesting is that the cloister bedrooms were among the earliest spaces planned in Casa Grande and originally they were open to the elements so they truly began as cloisters with that open air feeling built right into the design. These were commonly used as guest rooms, often assigned to two related guests and the setup was clever. Two beds and two baths so even when people were sharing they still had their own privacy. And now we're stepping into Hearst's private world, one that the guests staying at Hearst Castle didn't ever get to see. The Gothic Suite. It's located on the third level of Casa Grande and includes two bedrooms, two baths, and a sitting room. Even the sitting room feels like a work of art. There are so many different beautiful gorgeous religious pieces in here that you almost don't know where to start. And I love that the suite follows the royal tradition of a his and hers bedroom. And we're going to be starting off here on the right, the north bedroom of the Gothic Suite, Marion Davies' room. We enter Marion Davies' wing through her hallway closet and adjoining bathroom. Marion Davies was a real force in Hearst's life and she became the social heartbeat of this place. The hostess, the warmth, the energy who kept the atmosphere alive and yet she carried a brutal reputation in the public eye both during Hearst's lifetime and especially after he died. And a lot of it was very cruel. She was a truly talented actress, sharp, witty, and full of charisma. But gossip about the age difference and the movie Citizen Kane had reduced her in people's minds to just a stereotype. Instead of the actress and amazing lady that she truly was. She was an integral part of fulfilling and living out Hearst's fantasy world here. Especially as the years got heavier. During the Great Depression when Hearst's finances tightened, Marion famously stepped right on in to help him and in turn preserve the castle. She gave him a million dollars and then because of World War II, everyone wanted to read the news so Hearst quickly recovered. But he never forgot what she did for him. When he died in 1951, Hearst left Marion Davies a large amount of Hearst Corporation stock. Enough to give her control and power. But she didn't need the money or the drama that would have been attached with accepting that. So she chose to sell it back to Mrs. Hearst for one dollar. That was the decision of someone trying to protect a legacy while also stepping out of a story that had already cost her so much of her reputation. She had already lived out her life there and it was time for her to start a new chapter and close that one. And I respect that. The fact that she bowed out gracefully, I'm sure the pressure was laid down thick on her to give those shares back and she ultimately didn't have to. And just imagine for a second how different the Hearst family legacy would have been if she hadn't done this. On each of the tours that I was on, they very much paid respect to Mrs. Davies which to me reflects the Hearst family's deep appreciation and respect for what she did for them. This room is so striking because of the ceiling. It's 15th century Spanish painted wood with an interlaced pattern of eight pointed stars. This clock. Our guide said that this is one of the only personal items of Mrs. Davies still associated with the estate. A small detail but makes her feel real in a house that sometimes can feel like it wasn't hers at all. And back down the hall past the sitting room we're in the bathroom and closet leading up to William Randolph Hearst's private bedroom. And this is the south bedroom of the gothic suite, Hearst's bedroom. Although he didn't get much shut eye in here, friends and visitors of the castle all said that he would barely sleep around four hours at most each night but he would still be able to get so much work done which is quite impressive. And the room is actually quite small for a man who built such a large empire but of course it is absolutely exquisite. There's a 14th century beautifully painted ceiling in here brought all the way from an old historic house in Spain and even the lampshades have a story. The shades are made from authentic 15th century parchment animal skin. These specifically are pages from an old Gregorian chant book with latin text which were ripped from the book and used to make these shades. While they are interesting looking they're also a little controversial since these are made from historical artifacts and from the skin of animals. The standout piece in here though without a doubt is a painting of the Madonna and Child from the 13th century. It's just gorgeous. There's also a painting of his mother over here Phoebe Hearst and you can feel her influence everywhere in this place because don't forget now she was the one who taught William Hearst how to love art beauty and collecting in the first place. There's just something about this room that feels soothing and peaceful and I think it's because of all of these personal details coming together. It gives us a different side of William Hearst. And now this is the room where William Hearst probably spent most of his time while he was here the gothic study. This was his work area where he would preview newspapers every night before they went to print going over layouts and headlines up here throwing them all across the floor looking at them from above and dancing around them. He had a really interesting way of doing his work up here and I kind of find that fascinating. This was also one of the last major rooms that was built here. It's a room of exceptional beauty with painted arches, bookcases, murals, decorative medieval objects and renaissance art furnishings spread around. I mean these arches alone give this room a church-like almost cinematic feeling. And this ceiling is also a Spanish ceiling dating back to the early 1400s which is just insane. The bookcase here holds nearly 4,000 volumes on everything from literature and art to history and gardening so you can get a little preview of the mind that operated in here that was never able to truly turn off. And right here is a portrait of Hearst at age 30 years old painted by his childhood friend Oren Peck. And in my honest opinion this space gives us the most genuine peek into the world and mind of William Randolph Hearst and all of the work that powered everything that was happening downstairs. There's a very productive feeling in this room one that has a lot of pride attached to it. And up here high inside the cathedral towers are the celestial suites. Hearst reserved these for special guests. They're octagonal tower bedrooms tucked beneath the bells built completely around the views of the exterior. And one thing I love is the detail that you'd never expect to hear. Casagrande's towers weren't originally designed like this. This space was essentially built around a water tank and Julia Morgan transformed it into something so elegant that at sunset it's been described as a sparkling jewel box. Another example of her brilliance that not a lot of people get to see. And guests who stayed here really never said anything about that engineering detail at all. Nobody was scared of sleeping under a water tower. So that really makes it feel like Hearst and Morgan never even told anybody. It might have been their own little design secret that they kept safe. And I know we all have those don't we? Because here the illusion was the point of it all. It was part of the experience. The rooms are wrapped here in gold damask drapery that can be drawn so it completely encircles the space making it feel more intimate and theatrical. And look at these windows. I was just captivated by them. There's little detailed intricate carvings all throughout the framing. That arabesque grillwork almost acts like lace against the light. You really do feel like you're Cinderella or Rapunzel up in this bedroom. It's magical. And there are actually two of these of course since there's two bell towers. And they are connected by a celestial sitting room. This is exactly the kind of quiet hidden magic most people don't even realize that a whole world exists within these towers. This sitting room has a vibe of its own. Right here in the center is the ship of and along the top is a line of very old archaic latin. That's part of why this is still a bit of a mystery. People have tried to translate this for many years but there isn't one agreed upon translation. Pretty interesting. This would be a nice little moment of pause or to catch up with someone who was staying in the neighboring celestial suite. This is the another guest room within the main house and one of the cloister rooms that we passed by earlier. This one is notable for the rare 15th century della robbia ceramics that are in here. And these are the duplex bedrooms. The loft rooms as they're sometimes called. And these are another example of Julia Morgan's genius design details that she implemented randomly throughout the estate. Because these didn't start as guest rooms. They were originally constructed as open light wells. And later Morgan transformed that empty vertical space into these tall elegant suites. A sitting room and a bathroom tucked below. So instead of a typical flat bedroom you get this vertical experience and it almost makes you feel like a little kid again in a lot of ways. At least that's how I felt. I just love the idea of the stairs going up and down. It's like your own little private suite right here. And all the details in here just really elevate the entire space with the tapestries, painted ceilings, and the sense that every inch was designed to make this place feel like its own little fairy tale. It's such a perfect example of how Julia Morgan's mind operated by taking a structural problem and turning it into one of the most memorable guest rooms in the entire castle. At least for me. I absolutely loved this room and when the tour guide asked where we would like to stay if we were one of William Randolph Hearst's guests. And I said this room because everything is in here. And I'll turn that question back to you all. Which room would you all stay in if you were a guest here? Let me know in the comments below. I'm really curious what you all have to say about that one. And now we're in the service wing that the part of Casagrande that proves that this place wasn't just a big fantasy. It was a machine and this is what helped operate it. This is where the real work happened. Casagrande's kitchen is spacious, surrounded by cupboards filled with china, stemware, and silver ready to go for whatever was going on in that moment. And just look at this sink. It is one of my favorite details in the entire house. The tile work is so colorful and playful. And just look at these amazing gold bird faucet handles. It is such a Julia Morgan perfect little detail. Even the most practical little things could be turned into something beautiful. And the technology in this room is also one of my favorite details because it is the perfect blend of old world operations and cutting-edge innovative technology that was coming out at the time. The large stove and ovens here were oil burning while the rotisserie and four refrigerators operated electrically which was incredibly innovative for the time. What we're seeing back here is a transformation when modern kitchens and appliances were starting to take shape. And it's wild to think about how most households during this time still relied on ice boxes when Hearst had electric refrigeration. Four of them. And it's really important to note as well that Hearst did not believe in having food in the bedrooms. That was a very strict rule which I'm not sure how I feel about personally. But meals were part of the ritual experience of the home here which means that this area was constantly staying busy. There was a huge staff, everyone working together, making this dream truly possible in the end. And that's the part that people don't always picture when they come to Hearst Castle. All of the work that happened behind the scenes to make this dream a reality. And that's why it's important to see spaces like this while you're touring. And I love the pantry here and the examples of the clothing that the staff when they worked here. So this really helps to create a visual of what it was like during the time when Hearst Castle was operating in full swing. And now we're heading down into the wine cellar and this is really a place that a lot of people don't get to see. And also the place that fueled a lot of the festivities at Hearst Castle. It's actually made up of two rooms secured behind a huge thick bolted door which already tells you how seriously this house treated its provisions. Inside are 220 numbered bins with room for about 10,000 bottles. And don't think that any of these would be good to sample now unless you like the taste of vinegar. They are very old. What I loved most down here were the old labels on the bottles. I've always been obsessed with vintage advertisements and packaging design so seeing all of this original typography and artwork in one place was just a special little treat for me. And right here is Julia Morgan's very own personal little studio. A small quiet glimpse into the mind behind everything that we've been marveling at. It's like she's still here sketching designs and responding to Hearst's many requests and revisions as she was creating her own legacy here. She never married, never had children, so I can't help but wonder if in some quiet beautiful way that this became her constant, her focus, her devotion. The place where she returned to again and again until it was finally real. Almost like an obsession for both Hearst and Morgan. Both with different intentions overall I'm sure, but they did share one in creating a legacy here. They both wanted Hearst Castle to be something that would be remembered like the many places in Europe that we all still tour today. And I really believe that both Morgan and Hearst would feel that their work here is being carried forward. So I thank Mr. Hearst and Miss Morgan for giving us this place because even after all these years it still has the power to reawaken something within us. Something worth remembering that makes us feel alive again. What about you? What does visiting Hearst Castle spark within you? Let me know in the comments below. And I also want to give a big shout out to California State Parks and to the three incredible tour guides that I had on these three tours that took over six hours. I always learn something new every time I come here and I already know I'll learn something different the next time I return. Make sure to give this video a big thumbs up and if you didn't watch part one of the Hearst Castle series, make sure to give that a watch too because it really sets the stage for everything that we explored today. Until our next historic house tour together my friends, keep enjoying the beauty of vintage home. Au revoir!