Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle is a home and museum located in San Simeon, California. It was built in 1919, and went through constant remodelling on the part of its owner, William Randolph Hearst, until 1947. Following his death in 1951, the property became a California State Park in 1954, and opened to visitors four years later. It is the best-known work of American architect Julia Morgan, and has over one hundred rooms and 123 acres of gardens. In 1919, Heart inherited over 40,000 acres of land around San Simeon, CA, after his mother’s death. He began to purchase more, and eventually started to work on a project he called ‘La Cuesta Encantada’ (The Enchanted Hill), a property designed to house his growing art collection. Construction on the property continued…

Built as the building for the College of Mine- a college which taught some relatively unique majors, the Hearst Memorial Mining Building was designed to have a different character compare to other colleges. With this in mind, it can be observed that some interesting expressions were specifically and intentionally crafted under the drawing pens of John Galen Howard and the outcome is worthy to be discussed and investigated. At the very first, the idea of emphasising the speciality of mining…

Graham had a good-sized crowd but it wasn’t the size that he had wanted (Graham, 1997). But one night before the event, the place was crawling with reporters and photographers. When Graham asked what was happening, one reporter answered, “You’ve just been kissed by William Randolph Hearst” (Wooten, 2001, p. 8). Of course Graham had heard of the famous newspaper owner, Hearst, but he had never met him or even talked to him. Graham did not know the exact reason why Hearst decided to tell his…

It is debatable whether siege warfare became as important as it was due to the presence of the defensive monstrosities that were castles or if it was siege warfare that led to the advancement of castles, but siege warfare is a key focus regardless. When analyzing medieval warfare, some historians make the mistake of ignoring siege engines or warfare and instead choose to focus their inquiry on knights or horses . Knights on horseback had a minor impact on siege warfare, which was the leading…

Tall stone walls, numerous holes located throughout the property, crumbling bricks, narrow hallways, small stairwells. These are just some of the features of the crumbling medieval castles that still stand today. Yet, only a few hundred years ago, these castles were the homes of the wealthy and a shield for the low-lights in society. The bigger and stronger the castle, the more wealth was shown, and the better protected the people of the village were. A successful medieval European castle would…

The Castel Medieval castles were built to be as defensive as possible. Every part of them was designed to make sure that the castle was as strong as it could be, and could hold out against sieges - which could sometimes last months. The Outer Curtain Wall The ‘curtain wall’ was a stone wall which wrapped around the outside of a castle. This wall was the main layer of defense, and it was very strong - for example, the curtain wall of Caerphilly Castle in Wales was more than 2 meters (that’s more…

and castles that date back to Medieval times scattered all over the beautiful countryside. Most of the castles found in Ireland were built using stone. Many of them date back to the 1100's. The Irish started building castles after the Normans invaded the country. There were castles built all over Ireland's beautiful countryside. Many of them now lie in ruins. There are others that have been restored. Many of the castles are open to the public. The Bunratty Castle was built in the 15th…

early as 300BC. The Traction Trebuchet required a large group people to pull on a heavy rope in order to launch the projectile. The trebuchet didn’t reach Europe till the early dark ages around 500 AD. during this time the trebuchet went through very significant changes, the most important of which being the replacement of the troop of men pulling on a rope in order to launch the projectile, with a large fixed counterbalance weight. Thought the fixed weight was a significant improvement from the…

The Tower of London has been many things over the years such as a fortress, a state prison, a zoo, an armory, repository for the crown jewels, a home for Tudor monarchs, and today a museum. Inside the tower walls has been the last sight for many of its prisoners. Although there were some prisoners that have escaped the tower walls and fled to neighboring countries. William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066 defeating Harold II. Duke William of Normandy built on to the existing castle in 1078.…

the most spectacular private castle of the decade. Bodiam is the kind of castle that most people imagine when they think what a medieval castle is supposed to look like, with its large stone walls and towers surrounded by moat looking very dramatic and highly defensive. Bodiam to this day remains very intact and is one of the most visually striking medieval England castles. The only time that Bodiam castle was under threat was during the Wars of Roses, when forces of Richard III were sent to…