Biltmore House and Gardens Biltmore Estate, Biltmore-Asheville North Carolina — A Reader’s Guide

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_Biltmore House and Gardens_

Biltmore-Asheville North Carolina

Approached from the Biltmore Lodge Gate of Biltmore Estate, along a three-mile drive of paved roads which wind their way through plantations of flowering shrubs and forests of pine, hemlock and hardwood, Biltmore House, for nearly half a century unique among the great country houses of America, comes into view with almost startling suddenness. A sharp turn through the wrought iron gates of the north entrance gives one the first view of the magnificent mansion completed by George W. Vanderbilt in 1895.

Following in many details the lines of French Renaissance chateaux, particularly those of Blois and Chambord, Biltmore House was designed by Richard M. Hunt, of New York. The landscape setting of the mansion and the estate was planned by Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park, New York, and executed under the direction of C. D. Beadle, for more than sixty years Superintendent of the Estate. By many, the great estate surrounding the mansion is believed to be the finest example of landscape design in America.

The visitor can profitably study the exterior of the mansion before passing through the main portal. The structure has a frontage of 780 feet. The breadth of the house, from the main door to the west front, is 150 feet. The facade rises in three distinct levels, graduated from portals to finials. The characteristic French peaked roof, with its dormer windows and lofty chimneys, relieves any tendency toward severity. The walls are of hand-tooled Indiana limestone; the roof is of slate.

Biltmore House, begun in 1890, was completed and opened in 1895 after five years of intensive construction. Special railroad tracks were laid from what is now Biltmore station to the site—three miles away—for the conveyance of the great mass of construction material required. Hundreds of skilled artisans from various parts of this country and Europe worked unremittingly, while other hundreds of laborers from the mountain sections of North Carolina were given steady employment during the period of construction.

The visitor gains the first impression of the mansion’s magnitude when passing through the main entrance door, flanked by sixteenth century lions of Italian marble, into the great hall which gives access to the main rooms. The self-supporting arches surrounding the Palm Court are ceiled with tiles especially made by the celebrated artist and architect, Rafael Guastavino, while the arches and dome of the broad circular stairway which spirals to the topmost floor from the left side of the hall are of Indiana limestone. Facing the entrance door from the rear of the hall is a ceremonial furnishing of Cardinal Richelieu, showing the Cardinal’s coat-of-arms, motto and hat; it is one of a pair, the other is hung on the wall of the second-floor corridor. The grand staircase, modeled after that of the Chateau Blois, winds its way around the massive wrought iron chandelier which extends downward from the roof to the Entrance Hall ceiling, and bears a light cluster for each landing.

While visitors are free to choose their own itinerary, the tour of the mansion usually begins at the Court of Palms, adjoining the Entrance Hall. This court is a sunken area, encircled with marble and, in almost every season, adorned with masses of flowers from the gardens and greenhouses. The central fountain is surmounted by a statue of a boy and swan, the work of Karl Bitter, the Austro-American sculptor. On the walls are copies of the Parthenon Reliefs, now in the British Museum.

From the Court of Palms the visitor enters the Oak Drawing Room, panelled in Norwegian oak. Most of the engravings hanging here are after paintings by Landseer. Heads of deer, buffalo, moose, and bear also adorn the walls. The three bronzes over the fireplace are by Barye, while on the bookcase at the left are four Chinese Celadon vases. The Spanish table in the center is of late eighteenth century origin, as is the writing desk facing the entrance.

From the Oak Drawing Room one enters the great Banquet Hall, one of the chief centers of attraction. Copied in large measure from an old Norman banquet hall, this room is 72 feet long; its ceiling reaches a height of 75 feet. At one end a triple fireplace, extending almost across the entire width of the room, is surmounted by a frieze by Bitter, “The Return From The Chase.” High above the frieze are grouped the flags of the great powers of Europe at the time Columbus discovered America.