 After Hearst conveyed his enthusiasm for the project , Beloso sold Byne the stones for $ 85 @,@ 000 , including the cloister , the chapter house , the refectory and the dormitory for novices . With Byne 's commission , Hearst was to pay $ 97 @,@ 000 , a price roughly equivalent to $ 1 @.@ 34 million as of 2016 . Byne started immediately on the project , organizing men and materials , and beginning the removal of stones . Hearst 's main architect Julia Morgan sent her associate architect Walter T. Steilberg who arrived on March 9 , 1931 . Steilberg recommended that Hearst buy the old church portal , which he did , at Byne 's price of $ 1 @,@ 500 . Under the direction of Byne and Steilberg , the monastery was carefully labeled as it was dismantled stone by stone . Antonio Gomez , the local foreman praised by Byne and Steilberg , numbered the blocks on architectural drawings and painted the number in red on the back of each stone . 
