San Luis Obispo County CA Archives Photo Place.....Arthur Beale House 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com November 23, 2006, 11:32 pm

Source:             Discovering San Luis Obispo County
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanluisobispo/photos/arthurbe61gph.jpg
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THE ARTHUR BEALE HOUSE

History and Description:

If you were alive 44 years ago and traveling through the Cambria Pines area,
north of San Luis Obispo in the township of San Simeon, you might have heard
several large explosions in late afternoon.  Looking for its source you would
find Arthur Beale, the facts would be told to the best of his knowledge.  He
would tell you he found this beautiful spot traveling with the Cambria Pines
Developing Company in the 1920's. He slept in the area while clearing a solid
rock site with dynamite on the side of a mountain.  After an extensive effort
and sleeping on a bed of pine needles for many cold nights, Beale had his site
and started construction.  Being one of the first settlers in Cambria, he had to
depend on the land for his bed, but he depended on surrounding towns for his
materials.  He was one of a few people in the area with a driving permit and a
truck, income at that time from hauling furniture and paving a road to Hearst
Castle.  He also did odd jobs. Mr. Beale's house has been growing since 1928
along with his reputation as a "wildman".

Beale has constructed his house out of inventive ideas and the things people
have declared no longer useful.  The site has many levels with terraced gardens
but the structure seems to have three basic stories. Gardens with abundant
growth are on both sides of the house with walkways of concrete and abalone
shells. Railings are made of old pipes and scraps of wood. Several rooms are
partially carved out of solid rock while in other parts of the house translucent
fence panels constitute the ceilings.  Old tire rims form columns with abalone
shell arches over another walkway built from the ocean's stones. The tires from
the old rims in turn are used as retaining walls while a bicycle rim hangs as
ornamentation from a 16 foot long windvane arm. Arthur Beale's house is made of
everything and in essence is an environmental experience of creative spaces
overlooking the West Cambria area and the Pacific Ocean.  It insists to stand as
an historical monument to a progressive age of salvage.


Source:
Arthur Beale, owner


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Discovering San Luis Obispo County
by
Carleton M. Winslow

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/sanluisobispo/photos/arthurbe61gph.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/cafiles/

File size: 3.0 Kb