Biltmore Estate is a large private estate and tourist attraction in Asheville, North
Carolina. Biltmore House, the main house on the estate, is a Châteauesque-styled mansion
built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately
owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet of floor space of living area)
and featuring 250 rooms. Still owned by one of Vanderbilt's descendants, it stands today
as one of the most prominent remaining examples of the Gilded Age, and of significant gardens
in the jardin à la française and English Landscape garden styles in the United States.
In 2007, it was ranked eighth in America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute
of Architects.
History In the 1880s, at the height of the Gilded
Age, George Washington Vanderbilt, youngest son of William Henry Vanderbilt, began to
make regular visits with his mother, Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt, to the Asheville,
North Carolina, area. He loved the scenery and climate so much that he decided to create
his own summer estate in the area, which he called his "little mountain escape," just
as his older brothers and sisters had built opulent summer houses in places such as Newport,
Rhode Island, and Hyde Park, New York. Architecture
Vanderbilt's idea was to replicate the working estates of Europe. He commissioned prominent
New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, who had previously designed houses for various
Vanderbilt family members, to design the house in the Châteauesque style, using several
Loire Valley French Renaissance architecture chateaux, including the Chateau de Blois,
as models. The estate included its own village, today named Biltmore Village, and a church,
today known as the Cathedral of All Souls. Furnishings
Vanderbilt went on extensive buying-trips overseas as construction on the house was
in progress. He returned to North Carolina with thousands of furnishings for his newly
built home. These included furniture, tapestries, hundreds of carpets, prints, linens, and decorative
objects, all dating between the 1400s and the late 1800s, and all coming from various
eastern and western countries and continents around the world. Among the few American-made
items were the more practical oak drop-front desk, rocking chairs, a walnut grand piano,
bronze candlesticks and a wicker wastebasket. Landscape
Wanting the best, Vanderbilt also employed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted
to design the grounds, with the immediate gardens in the Garden à la française style,
beyond those in the English Landscape garden style. Beyond these were the natural woodlands
and agricultural lands with the intentionally rustic three-mile approach road passing through.
Gifford Pinchot and later Carl A. Schenck were hired to manage the forests, with Schenck
establishing the first forestry education program in the U.S., the Biltmore Forest School,
on the estate grounds in 1898. Intending that the estate could be self-supporting, Vanderbilt
set up scientific forestry programs, poultry farms, cattle farms, hog farms and a dairy.
His wife, Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt, also enthusiastically supported agricultural reform
and promoted the establishment of a state agricultural fair. In 1901, to help provide
local employment, the Vanderbilts started Biltmore Industries, which made furniture
modeled after the furnishings of the estate. The Vanderbilts invited family and friends
from across the country to the opulent estate. Notable guests to the estate over the years
have included author Edith Wharton, novelist Henry James, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, and
Presidents McKinley, T. Roosevelt, and Wilson. Vanderbilt paid little attention to the family
business or his own investments, and it is believed that the construction and upkeep
of Biltmore depleted much of his inheritance. After Vanderbilt died in 1914 of complications
from an emergency appendectomy, his widow, Edith Vanderbilt, completed the sale of 85,000
of the original 125,000 acres to the federal government. This was to carry out her husband's
wish that the land remain unaltered, and that property became the nucleus of the Pisgah
National Forest. Hiding place for art
During World War II, 62 paintings and 17 sculptures were moved by train from the National Gallery
of Art in Washington, D.C. to protect them in the event of an attack on the United States.
Among these were the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and works by Rembrandt,
Raphael, and Anthony van Dyck. David Finley, the gallery director, was a friend of Edith
Vanderbilt who had stayed at the estate. The music room was not ready, so it was used for
storage from January 1942 until 1944, when the possibility of an attack became more remote.
Tourist attraction
In an attempt to bolster the estate's financial situation during the Depression, Vanderbilt's
only child, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt, and her husband, John Amherst Cecil, opened
Biltmore House to the public in March 1930. Family members continued to live there until
1956, when it was permanently opened to the public as a house museum. Visitors can view
the 70,000-gallon indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, early 20th century exercise equipment,
two-story library, and other rooms filled with artworks, furniture and 19th-century
novelties such as elevators, forced-air heating, centrally controlled clocks, fire alarms and
an intercom system. The estate remains a major tourist attraction in Western North Carolina
and has almost 1 million visitors each year. The grounds include 75 acres of formal gardens,
a winery and the Inn on Biltmore Estate, a AAA four-diamond 210-room hotel.
The "If These Walls Could Talk" exhibit continues to be on display in the Second Floor Living
Hall, and highlights Biltmore as a private family home, as well as spotlighting the restoration
of the Louis XV Suite, which opened to the public in 2009. In 2010, they debuted Antler
Hill Village, as well as a remodeled winery, and connected farmyard. The Village includes
the Outdoor Adventure Center, Creamery, Cedric's Tavern, and the Biltmore Legacy, which is
another museum highlighting the time of the Vanderbilts. For 2011, the Biltmore Company
introduced a new stop on the Butler's tour, Mrs. Emily King's bedroom, part of the unrestored
Housekeepers Suite. Mrs. King was the head housekeeper at Biltmore House from 1897 to
1914, and led the house even when the Vanderbilts were out of the country. On display with her
room is a turn of the 20th century vacuum cleaner, foxtail duster, and toilet bowl cleaner.
Also from July–October 2011, the Tiffany collection was on display in Biltmore's Antler
Hill Village in the Legacy Museum. Forty-five of Louis Tiffany's renowned stained glass
lamps and three windows from other Vanderbilt properties were brought in for the summer.
There is a small walking or biking trail, which leads from the lagoon to the horse barn,
the farm, Antler Hill Village, and the winery. There is also a trail which leads from the
lagoon to the Biltmore House. Automotive enthusiasts can view George Vanderbilt's
preserved 1913 Stevens-Duryea C-Six, which is currently on display at the Winery. Contrary
to previous estate publications, Vanderbilt was an early and ardent driver; documents
show he upgraded to the '13 Duryea because the newer car featured electric lamps. Originally
delivered in a dark gray or black, rumor holds that Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt found the
color depressing, and ordered a repaint. Hence the car is dressed in white with black pinstripes.
It is the only vehicle belonging to the Vanderbilts that remains on the estate.
Present
The estate today covers over 8,000 acres and is split in half by the French Broad River.
It is owned by the Biltmore Company, which is controlled by Vanderbilt's grandson, William
A.V. Cecil, Sr., who inherited the estate upon the death of his mother Cornelia. William,
Sr.'s son, Bill, Jr., serves as company president. In 1964, it was designated a National Historic
Landmark. The dairy farm was split off into Biltmore Farms, run by William Cecil's brother,
George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil. William Cecil converted the former dairy barn into the Biltmore
Winery. In film
The grounds and buildings of Biltmore Estate have appeared in a number of major motion
pictures:
In Other Media The Biltmore House is also featured in: Empires
of the Smoky Skies, a scenario in Sid Meier's Civilization_V. The Biltmore house can be
built as a national wonder boosting Gold and Culture output.
See also List of largest houses in the United States
Richard Sharp Smith References
Hewitt, Mark Alan: The Architect & the American Country House. Yale University Press: New
Haven & London 1990, p. 1-10 External links
Biltmore Estate official website Landmark designation
Unofficial Biltmore House Floor Plan Project