Wyntoon was built as a nothern villa estate for William Randolph Hearst on 50,000 acres of forested land near Mount Shasta in Northern California.

Three sets of buildings were sited along the McCloud River. The first was a "Bavarian village," with three half-timber, three-story guesthouses arranged around a large, grassy oval clearing in the midst of the forest. The back of the guesthouses overlook the river, to which they are parallel. Half a mile downstream, the swimming pool, tennis courts, croquet court, and a building for dining and movies were located. Another quarter of a mile downstream near a bend, a large central building for meals and entertainment was located.

"The guesthouses, which seem more like small castles, are Bavarian-Austrian in style, a choice no doubt influenced by the landscape, with its steep pine-covered hills and tumultuous stony river. . . .

"The effect of the 'village' is Bavarian, but the symmetry of each building and the careful siting around the central green are more Beaux-Arts, a welcome antidote to the potentially cloying Bavarian style. Morgan's use of the local stone and wood is characteristically sensitive. The steep roofs feature many gables, chimneys, and bay windows accented by timbers; but the playful arrangement of forms, in counterpoint to the adjacent patterns of trees and river and mountains, gives a rhythmic quality to the whole design."

Sara Holmes Boutelle. Julia Morgan Architect.. pp. 218-9.

Wyntoon was planned to house Hearst's German art collection, and as at San Simeon, a team of craftspersons worked at the site, making and installing ornament to complement art objects. Carved local soft fir and pine for interior wood paneling and decorative elements, colorful Oakland-made tile, painted murals on the building exterior, wrought iron for gates, brackets and lanterns were all integrated in the building and landscape design.

Details

Site: 50,000 acres of dense forest with winding McCloud River, 50 miles south of the Oregon border, in the shadow of Mount Shasta.