Page 679 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

CENTR AL C O AST  677

. Gothic Study VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Hearst ran his media
empire from the Gothic Practical Information
Study. His most prized 750 Hearst Castle Rd Tel (800) 444-
books and manuscripts 4445. Open from 9am daily; closing
were kept behind griles. times vary. Closed Jan 1, Thanksg.,
Dec 25. & 7 call ahead. = 8
obligatory. ∑ hearstcastle.com
Transport
@
Exploring Hearst Castle®
Visitors must take one of the
six guided tours. The Grand
Rooms Tour is best for first-
timers. In spring and fall,
evening tours feature docents
or “guests” in period costume.
Casa Grande® was built from
reinforced concrete to withstand
California’s earthquakes. This
gilded playhouse for Hearst’s
many famous guests has 38
bedrooms, an Assembly Room,
a Billiard Room, two pools, and a
theater, where up to 50 guests
could watch film premieres.
Hearst himself lived in the
sumptuous, third-floor Gothic
Suite. The exquisite heated indoor
Roman Pool is entirely covered
with mosaics made of colored
and fused-gold glass tiles.
Hearst created a veritable
Garden of Eden, laying 127 acres
(51 ha) of gardens. Fan palms,
Italian cypresses, and huge
oaks were hauled up at great
expense. Four greenhouses and
thousands of fruit trees supplied
plants and fruit. Ancient and
modern statues were collected
to adorn the terraces. Among
the finest are four statues of
Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess
Main of war, dating from 1560 to
entrance 1200 BC. The 104-ft (32-m) light-
veined marble Neptune Pool is
flanked by colonnades and the
The Assembly Room façade of a Greek temple.
features a 16th-century A great lover of the outdoors,
French fireplace. Italian Hearst had a covered bridle path
choir stalls line the walls, built, so that he could ride in all
which are hung with weather. There was also a private
Flemish tapestries.
zoo on Camp Hill that once had
lions, bears, leopards, and pumas.
. Refectory Zebras, giraffes, ostriches, and
Tapestries and choir even a baby elephant were
stalls cover the walls of the free to wander the grounds.
dining hall. Its Renaissance The three guest houses – Casa
table has cathedral seats del Mar, Casa del Sol, and
and is decorated with Casa del Monte – are luxurious
silver candlesticks. mansions in their own right.

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