Crime Capsule Yesterday's America. Grand estates conjure up romantic images of ornate architecture, garden parties, lavish balls, and perfectly manicured gardens. Encompassing a total area of 8, acres, this privately-owned estate, owned by the Vanderbilt family for over years, includes all those features, and more. Construction took six years to complete from to , involving a workforce of around 1, people.
The footprint of the house covers the expanse of four football fields. A forerunner for the times, the development included electricity, central heating, running water, and functional bathrooms.
During the construction of the main house, the large and productive Biltmore Nursery provided revenue from horticulture. The Main Dairy and Horse Barn, built soon after, supported the estate and staff with a working farm while development of the estate continued.
Members of the extended Vanderbilt family and esteemed and noteworthy guests privately enjoyed the opulence of the estate for the first few decades of the early 20th century. Over the next few years, selected properties were sold from the estate, including the Biltmore Village.
The Vision In the late s, George W. Vanderbilt, then a young man of 25, came upon the perfect spot in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains for a room French Renaissance chateau to be built by his friend, architect Richard Morris Hunt. Vanderbilt's decision to locate his mountain mansion near Asheville, NC, led to his purchase of a total of , acres surrounding the site. Today, Biltmore Estate encompasses approximately 8, acres, including formal and informal gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture in America.
While the incomparable beauty of Biltmore Estate is the result of the combined creative talents and vision of all three men—Vanderbilt, Hunt and Olmsted—it is Biltmore House, which continues to be the centerpiece of Vanderbilt's legacy. This great house remains the largest private residence in America, a National Historic Landmark. George Vanderbilt officially opened the home to friends and family on Christmas Eve in He had created a country retreat where he could pursue his passion for art, literature and horticulture.
After marrying American Edith Stuyvesant Dresser — in Paris during the summer of , George and his new bride came to live at the estate. Their only child, Cornelia — , was born and grew up at Biltmore. Construction of Biltmore House was under way in ; it was a massive undertaking that included a mansion, gardens, farms and woodlands.
George Vanderbilt engaged two of the most distinguished designers of the 19th-century: architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted The centerpiece was a four-story stone house with a ft. Even after six years, Biltmore House was not complete when George Vanderbilt opened it in ; work would continue for years. Its scale continues to be astounding: the house contains more than 11 million bricks; the massive stone spiral staircase rises four floors and has steps.
Through its center hangs an iron chandelier suspended from a single point, containing 72 electric light bulbs. The Collection Vanderbilt, the grandson of industrialist Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, was an intellectual, fluent in several languages, well-traveled and knowledgeable about art, architecture, music, agriculture, horticulture and literature.
Vanderbilt's diverse and cultured tastes influenced his travels with architect Hunt while Biltmore House was being constructed. The two men traveled throughout Europe and the Orient, purchasing paintings, porcelains, bronzes, carpets and furniture. While it was being built, he traveled all over Europe just to buy things to use to decorate his new mountain getaway.
The things he purchased included valuable antiques dating back to the s and up to the s. There were very few American-made items in the house; the ones that were made in this country were mainly pieces of furniture made out of native trees, as well as a few bronze and wicker items.
The Biltmore was officially opened on Christmas Eve in George Vanderbilt invited his friends and family from all around the country to come to visit it and enjoy its pleasures. George married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in Their only child, a daughter named Cornelia, was born at the Biltmore in and grew up there.
In the early s, the new income tax made managing such a large estate economically tougher than it once was. The sale was made with the promise that the land would be unaltered, and it became the center of the Pisgah National Forest.
After George died in following complications from an appendectomy, his widow lived at the estate part-time. Cornelia and her husband had two sons together, who were both born at the Biltmore, in the same room in which Cornelia herself was born. However, this decision was not made alone. It was a win-win situation for both parties.
While the war was going on, many important paintings and sculptures were moved from Washington, D. The famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington was one of the national treasures stored at the Biltmore until it was safe for them to be returned to Washington, D.
Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil and her husband eventually divorced, and Cornelia, though the daughter of the original owner, left the Biltmore and never returned to it.
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