Pasadena's 1908 Gamble House may rank as the most spectacular arts and crafts residence ever built. Now one of the largest house museums in the United States, the estate employs about 200 on-site guides, curators, restorers, gardeners, and other workers. In 1957, six years after Hearst died, his corporation gave the Mediterranean revival buildings of steel-reinforced concrete, along with their grounds and furnishings, to the State of California. "The wine would flow like glue during the meal," the actor David Niven once quipped. Though he frowned on heavy drinking, Hearst nonetheless often hosted his tippling mistress, actress Marion Davies, and her cocktail-loving Hollywood crowd. Packed with 25,000 pieces from Hearst's art collection-everything from ancient Greek pottery to an entire 16th-century Spanish ceiling-the estate also includes 127 acres of gardens, terraces, and pools.
Twenty-eight years and $6.5 million later (equivalent to more than $63 million today), that "little something" on California's Central Coast topped out at 165 rooms (including 61 bathrooms) spread among a main residence called Casa Grande and three guesthouses. "Miss Morgan," he wrote in 1919 to architect Julia Morgan, "we are tired of camping out in the open at the ranch in San Simeon and I would like to build a little something."
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Newspaper and movie magnate William Randolph Hearst had had enough. Will the Xanadu of some modern day Silicon Valley titan eventually qualify as a grand house of the West? Time will tell. These houses, many built with fortunes made in Western ventures such as railroads or mining, have endured earthquakes and neglect. Kooky rifle heiress Sarah Winchester couldn't possibly have used 47 fireplaces, and you have to wonder if Alfred McCune needed to ship that wall-size mirror in a custom railcar.
All the homes profiled here carry compelling backstories of wealthy, sometimes obsessive owners. When Via looked for grand houses in the West, we limited our search to those that are open to the public. But so does Gamble House, an 8,100-square-foot arts and crafts gem in Pasadena, California, whose woodwork radiates elemental beauty. Hearst Castle, with more than 90,000 square feet of priceless antiques and art, unquestionably qualifies.
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