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Photograph of Hearst Castle
Photograph by No machine-readable author provided. Urban~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims), CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Hearst San Simeon Estate

A National Historic Landmark. Built in 1919 (Mediterranean Revival architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. 11 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1919.

From the record

“Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada, is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his architect Julia Morgan, the castle was built between 1919 and 1947.”

Wikipedia article Hearst Castle, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 32 National Register listings published here for San Luis Obispo County · listed in 1972 · category: Building · built in 1919, Mediterranean Revival architecture, by Julia Morgan · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. 3 mi. NE of San Simeon, San Simeon, 93452
  • When was it listed? June 1972
  • Category. building
  • Census division. North Coast
  • When was it built? 1919
  • Architectural style. Mediterranean Revival architecture, Spanish Colonial Revival architecture
  • Architect. Julia Morgan
  • National Register reference number. 72000253 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

28 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 28 fires within 5 miles of Hearst San Simeon Estate between 1992 and 2018, burning about 53 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined14
Recreation and ceremony6
Equipment and vehicle use4
Smoking2
Debris and open burning1
Natural1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
27 September 2012Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitPICO
2 September 2014Equipment and vehicle use3.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitSEAL
6 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCentral California DistrictHEARST
5 August 2014Recreation and ceremony6.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitHEARST
4 August 2014Smokingunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitHEARST CASTLE VISITORS CE
27 August 1997Smoking7.0 acresSan Luis Obispo UnitSAN SIMEON
7 July 1996Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitRED ROCKS
5 July 1997Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreSan Luis Obispo UnitHWY 1

Every fire recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 17 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 17 workings within 5 miles of Hearst San Simeon Estate: 7 past producers, 5 prospects, 3 producers, 2 occurrences. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Mercury, Manganese, Chromium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Pereira ClaimsChromiumProspect
Pine Mountain ClaimsChromiumProducer
Pine Mountain ClaimsChromiumPast Producer
Hearst Ranch - Marmelejo Creek DepositManganeseOccurrenceRhodochrosite
Hearst Ranch - Red Rock DepositManganeseProducerResidual
Hearst Ranch-Marmolejo Cr. DepositManganeseOccurrence1942
Hearst Ranch-Red Rock DepositManganesePast Producer1942
BuckeyeMercuryPast ProducerCinnabar
Buckeye MineMercuryProspect
Gemstone Nos. 1, 2, & 3MercuryProducer

Every working recorded in San Luis Obispo County

Maps showing this location

11 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Piedras Blancas Light Station6.6 miles1991

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 72000253 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
San Luis Obispo CountyAll 32 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.