Tag: Victorian

The Biltmore House was built between 1889 and 1895 as a French-style self-sufficient country estate for George Washington Vanderbilt II and his wife, Edith Vanderbilt. Richard Morris Hunt designed it, and Frederick Law Olmsted designed the landscape of the estate, reforesting large areas and creating a park-like setting with natural and artificial landscaped areas surrounding the house. The estate is the largest private residence in the United States, with a 178,926 square foot (16,622.8 square meter) interior floor space. 

Part of the 125,000-acre estate included Biltmore Village, a small railroad town that was redesigned to resemble a rural French medieval village. Richard Sharp Smith took over as lead architect following the death of Richard Morris Hunt. Today, the village features many shops, restaurants, and tourist accommodations and has since been annexed by the city of Asheville. The portion of the estate bordering Biltmore Village features an iconic gatehouse, which melds the cottage-like materials of the village with the more imposing design language of the mansion inside the estate. Between the gatehouse and the mansion, a 3-mile-long (5 kilometer long) driveway known as the Approach Road winds its way through carefully cultivated landscapes, crossing under Interstate 40. 

The Biltmore House features elements from various historic French Chateaux, including the stair tower and hipped roofs of the Chateau Royal de Blois, as well as various elements from the Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chambord, also in France, and Waddesdon Manor in England. The house features a facade clad in Indiana Limestone, with lots of Gothic details, leaded glass windows, casement windows, and double-hung windows, towers with steeply pitched hipped slate roofs and decorative copper cresting, ornate wall dormers, an elevator tower at one side of the staircase, a large conservatory known as the Winter Garden next to the front entrance tower, which features an octagonal glass roof with a wooden Gothic support structure, a loggia on the west side of the house, and a stable wing on the north end of the house. 

Inside, the house features luxurious finishes, including carved woodwork, intricate plaster details, electric lighting, and steam heat, multiple fireplaces, a large kitchen and laundry in the basement, many guest rooms, a massive four-story chandelier in the grand staircase, a basement swimming pool, bowling alley, and gymnasium, a large grand banquet hall, bedrooms for staff, and a two-story library. The house features antiques and decorations sourced from the Vanderbilts’ many international excursions and antique dealers, as well as lots of art. 

The house was opened for public tours in 1930, which has, over time, expanded in scale to feature more areas of the house and estate. The house was utilized to store 62 paintings and 17 sculptures from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, in 1942, with Asheville believed to be a safe haven for them in the event that the United States was invaded by a foreign military. The estate is still owned by the Cecil family, the descendants of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child, and the house is today utilized as a museum and open to tours, with the remaining 8,000 acres comprising the modern grounds of the estate having been developed with tourist amenities, including the conversion of the estate’s various barns into museums, restaurants, and a winery, as well as the construction of a luxury hotel, shops, and additional support facilities. The estate today is a major tourist attraction, seeing nearly 2 million visitors every year.

Posted by w_lemay on 2019-01-13 16:58:33

The Biltmore House is a massive Chateauesque-style mansion built between 1889 and 1895 by Richard Morris Hunt for George Washington Vanderbilt II and his wife, Edith Vanderbilt. The house is the largest private residence in the United States, with a 178,926 square foot interior floor space. It was named after De Bilt, the place where the Vanderbilt family came from in the Netherlands. The estate, originally sitting at the center of a 125,000 acre (195 square mile or 510 square kilometer) estate, now covers 8,000 acres and contains tourist amenities, including converted barns, restaurants, a winery, a luxury hotel, and shops, as well as the house, which is now a museum open to tours.

Before becoming part of the estate, the land on which the estate is situated was home to small farms and was in very poor condition. Frederick Law Olmsted was responsible for designing the landscape of the estate, reforesting large areas, and creating a park-like setting with natural and artificial landscaped areas surrounding the house. Part of the estate included Biltmore Village, which was redesigned to resemble a rural French medieval village with a fan-shaped street grid centering around the Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls. Today, Biltmore Village features many shops, restaurants, and tourist accommodations, and has been annexed by the city of Asheville.

The Biltmore House features elements from various historic French Chateaux, including the stair tower and hipped roofs of the Chateau Royal de Blois, as well as various elements from the Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chambord, also in France, and Waddesdon Manor in England. The house features a facade clad in Indiana Limestone, with lots of Gothic details, leaded glass windows, casement windows, and double-hung windows, towers with steeply pitched hipped slate roofs and decorative copper cresting, ornate wall dormers, an elevator tower at one side of the staircase, a large conservatory known as the Winter Garden next to the front entrance tower, which features an octagonal glass roof with an wooden Gothic support structure, a loggia on the west side of the house with sweeping views of the Pisgah National Forest in the distance, and a stable wing on the north end of the house, with a porte cochere tower entrance to the stable courtyard, stone chimneys, and a loggia on the south side of the house.

Inside, the house features luxurious finishes, including carved woodwork, intricate plaster details, electric lighting and steam heat, multiple fireplaces, a large kitchen and laundry in the basement, many guest rooms, a massive four-story chandelier in the grand staircase, a basement swimming pool, bowling alley, and gymnasium, a large grand banquet hall, bedrooms for staff, and a two-story library. The house features antiques and decorations sourced from the Vanderbilts’ many international excursions and antique dealers, as well as lots of art.

The Biltmore House was opened for public tours in 1930, which has, over time, expanded in scale to feature more areas of the house and estate. The house was utilized to store 62 paintings and 17 sculptures from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC 1942, with Asheville believed to be a safe haven for them in the event that the United States was invaded by a foreign military, with the house remaining the repository for these important works until 1944, when the tides of war had turned. Biltmore Estate was designated as a National Historic Landmark 1963, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, owing to the house’s significant size, intact detailing, and connections to notable individuals.

The estate today is a major tourist attraction, seeing nearly 2 million visitors every year. The estate comprises 8,000 acres and contains tourist amenities, including converted barns, restaurants, a winery, a luxury hotel, and shops, as well as the house, which is now a museum open to tours. The estate is still owned by the Cecil family, the descendants of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child.

Posted by w_lemay on 2019-01-13 16:56:52

The Biltmore Estate is a massive Chateauesque-style mansion located in Asheville, North Carolina, built between 1889 and 1895 for George Washington Vanderbilt II and his wife, Edith Vanderbilt. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the house is the largest private residence in the United States, with over 178,900 square feet of interior floor space. The estate was named after De Bilt, the place where the Vanderbilt family originated in the Netherlands. The estate originally sat in the center of a 125,000-acre estate, which included Mount Pisgah, Pisgah National Forest Biltmore Village, and the upscale Asheville suburbs of Biltmore Forest and Biltmore Park. Today, many of these areas have been parceled off and sold to help run the estate, with the remaining 8,000 acres being developed for tourist amenities.

The massive mansion was designed to look like a French-style self-sufficient country estate, using elements from various historic French Chateaux, including the Chateau Royal de Blois, Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chambord, and Waddesdon Manor in England. The house’s facade is made of Indiana limestone, with Gothic details, leaded glass windows, casement windows, double-hung windows, steeply pitched hipped slate roofs, decorative copper cresting, ornate wall dormers, and towers. The interior of the house is opulent, with luxury finishes, including carved woodwork, intricate plaster details, electric lighting and steam heat, multiple fireplaces, and antiques and decorations from the Vanderbilts’ many international excursions and antique dealers. The house also has a large kitchen and laundry in the basement, many guest rooms, a massive four-story chandelier in the grand staircase, a basement swimming pool, bowling alley, and gymnasium, a large grand banquet hall, bedrooms for staff, and a two-story library.

In addition to the mansion, the estate has many other notable features, including a walled garden with rusticate granite walls, a large rose garden, gardener’s cottage, and a conservatory featuring various tropical plants. The estate also has a large South Terrace enclosed by a rusticated retaining wall, an Italian Garden with fountains and Italian-style sculptures, a natural Shrub Garden and vine-covered arbor, a grassy knoll with unobstructed views of the surrounding mountains, and the Biltmore Bass Pond, an enlarged former mill pond known for its stocked fish, boathouse, and waterfall. The grounds also include the Biltmore Village, which was redesigned to resemble a rural French medieval village, and features Norman-style cottages, various shops, a train station, a hospital, and a school for workers’ families.

The house was opened for public tours in 1930 and has expanded over time to feature more areas of the house and estate. The estate was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1963 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The estate is still owned by the Cecil family, descendants of George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child, Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, and is today utilized as a museum and open to tours. The estate today is a major tourist attraction, seeing nearly two million visitors every year.

Posted by w_lemay on 2019-01-13 16:57:54

The Biltmore House is the largest privately-owned residence in the United States, located in Asheville, North Carolina. Built between 1889 and 1895, the Chateauesque-style mansion was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for George Washington Vanderbilt II and his wife, Edith Vanderbilt. The house was named after De Bilt, the place where the Vanderbilt family came from in the Netherlands. Originally covering 125,000 acres, including Mount Pisgah, much of the present Pisgah National Forest, Biltmore Village, and the upscale Asheville suburbs of Biltmore Forest and Biltmore Park, much of which has been sold.

The estate is located on land that was once home to small farms and was in very poor condition. To create a park-like setting with natural and artificial landscapes surrounding the house, Frederick Law Olmsted was hired to design the landscape of the estate, reforesting large areas.

Biltmore Village, formerly a small railroad town, was redesigned to resemble a rural French medieval village, with a fan-shaped street grid centering around the Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls. Today, it features many shops, restaurants, and tourist accommodations, and has since been annexed by the city of Asheville.

The Biltmore House features elements from various historic French Chateaux, including the stair tower and hipped roofs of the Chateau Royal de Blois, the Chateau de Chenonceau, Chateau de Chambord, and Waddesdon Manor in England. The house features a facade clad in Indiana Limestone, with lots of Gothic details, leaded glass windows, casement windows, and double-hung windows, towers with steeply pitched hipped slate roofs and decorative copper cresting, ornate wall dormers, and an elevator tower.

Inside, the house features luxurious finishes, including carved woodwork, intricate plaster details, electric lighting and steam heat, multiple fireplaces, a large kitchen and laundry in the basement, many guest rooms, a massive four-story chandelier in the grand staircase, a basement swimming pool, bowling alley, and gymnasium, a large grand banquet hall, bedrooms for staff, and a two-story library.

The house was opened for public tours in 1930, which has, over time, expanded in scale to feature more areas of the house and estate. The house was utilized to store 62 paintings and 17 sculptures from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC 1942, with Asheville believed to be a safe haven for them in the event that the United States was invaded by a foreign military.

Biltmore Estate was designated as a National Historic Landmark 1963, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Today, still owned by the Cecil family, the descendants of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child, the house is utilized as a museum and open to tours.

Posted by w_lemay on 2019-01-13 16:56:47