The Biltmore Estate

"Built between 1889 and 1895, this grand and massive Chateauesque-style mansion was designed by Richard Morris Hunt for George Washington Vanderbilt II and his wife, Edith Vanderbilt, whom had decided that Asheville would be an ideal place to build a French-style self-sufficient country estate. The house is the largest private residence in the United States, with a 178,926 square foot (16,622.8 square meter) interior floor space. The house was named for De Bilt, the place where the Vanderbilt family came from in the Netherlands, and originally sat at the center of a 125,000 acre (195 square mile or 510 square kilometer) estate, which included 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 parceled off and sold to help assist with keeping the estate running, with 86,700 acres of reforested land surrounding Mount Pisgah being sold to the United States government in 1915. Prior to becoming part of the estate, the land, which straddles the French Broad River, was home to small farms, and was in very poor condition, with Frederick Law Olmsted 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, formerly a small railroad town known as Best, which was redesigned to resemble a rural French medieval village, with a fan-shaped street grid centering around the Episcopal Cathedral of All Souls, which was attended regularly by the Vanderbilt family. The village also features Norman-style cottages, various shops, a train station, a hospital, and a school for the families of workers at the estate, with many of the buildings being designed by Richard Sharp Smith, who took over as lead architect following the death of Richard Morris Hunt. Today featuring many shops, restaurants, and tourist accommodations, Biltmore Village has since been annexed by the city of Asheville. 

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 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. Still owned by the Cecil family, the descendants of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child, the house is today utilized as a museum and open to tours, with the 8,000 remaining 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."  (by Warren LeMay)

Video:  

• America’s Largest Gilded Age Mansion: The Biltmore Estate

Photo References

• Winter at Biltmore
• Antler Hill Village
• All that is Interesting @ Biltmore
• Biltmore Gardens
• Tea Room Hours
• Biltmore Estate Photos
• Biltmore Interior
• Christmas at the Biltmore
  
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All Virtual Artful Explorers events are one session (10 am -12:30 pm EST or 3:00 pm- 5:30 GMT) held on Saturdays.

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Facilitators of Artful Explorers:

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• Elizabeth Birkby
• Cecilia Evasco (Maricel)
• Dina Schlesinger
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• Emily Moon

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Artful Explorers for January 10, 2026

Upcoming: Art of Extreme Sports ​(1/17/26)