ASHEVILLE, N.C. – George Washington Vanderbilt began visiting the Asheville area in the 1880s.
The scenery and the climate were ideal for his tastes, so he decided to build a summer estate here.
After all, his siblings built estates in Newport, R.I., and Hyde Park, N.Y. So, Vanderbilt purchased 125,000 acres where he could built a “little mountain escape.”
The house, known as America’s largest private residence, is somewhat larger than a “little mountain escape.” Built between 1888 and 1895, the 175,000-square-foot house has 250 rooms, including 43 bathrooms and 34 bedrooms and sits on a four-acre site.
Vanderbilt – the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who amassed his wealth in steamships and railroads – enjoyed the French-style chateau for 19 years before his death in 1914. Originally, Vanderbilt intended for the Estate to be self-sufficient, so he established a number of operations, including a dairy, on the property.
While the house itself is today a museum of sorts, its contents are as impressive as the structure itself: there’s the chess set that once belonged to Napoleon Bonaparte, an 18th century ceiling painting by Pellegrini once featured in Venice’s Pisani Palace and one of the nation’s first bowling alleys, built in 1895 – just to name a few.
The house is merely the centerpiece of what is today an 8,000-acre plot of land nestled in the western North Carolina Mountains. The Estate is also home to the most visited winery in the country, which produces more than 170,000 cases of wine annually.
Interestingly, after Vanderbilt’s death, his widow, Edith, sold 85,000 acres to the U.S. Forest Service, which became the Pisgah National Forest.
According to a 2007 survey by the American Institute of Architects, the Biltmore is the eighth favorite structure in the country.
