SAN SIMEON

village, San Luis Obispo county, southwestern California, U.S. It lies along the Pacific Ocean overlooking San Simeon Bay. Part of the old Rancho San Simeon, the village lends its name to the former estate of publisher William Randolph Hearst lying nearby. A vast private estate (245,000 acres [99,148 hectares]), developed in the 1860s by Senator George Hearst from his Piedra Blanca Ranch, was inherited by his son, William Randolph, who in 191920 began construction of a complex of luxurious buildings and gardens to serve as a country house. The houses built by Hearst are collectively called La Cuesta Encantada (Enchanted Hill), since they occupy a hilltop site in the Santa Lucia Range. The main residence, La Casa Grande, is a Spanish Renaissance building that contains 150 rooms and has a cathedral-like facade and two bell towers. This mansion, known as Hearst Castle, has lavish interior decorations obtained from European churches and palaces and is filled with a huge collection of antiques and artworks. The San Simeon complex also includes a theatre, three palatial guest houses in an Italianate style, and a Roman temple facade. The site's embellishment continued for 29 years (191948) with numerous subsidiary buildings, Mediterranean gardens, statuary, pools, fountains, a pergola, and priceless art treasures garnered by Hearst and his agents worldwide. The architect of the building complex was Julia Morgan. Hearst died in 1951, and in 1958 his heirs gave 137 acres (55 hectares) of the original holdings, including the castle complex and surrounding land, to the state of California as the Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument.