Asheville – Called “America’s Finest Home,” this week’s historical marker celebrates the area’s best-known tourist attraction, the Biltmore House. The marker, located off McDowell as you enter the estate, reads: “Designed for George W. Vanderbilt by Richard M. Hunt. Constructed, 1890-1895. Opened to the public, 1930. Three miles west.”
As the historical sketch outlines, George Washington Vanderbilt, born in 1862, was the grandson and heir of steamship and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt. In 1887, George visited Asheville’s Battery Park Hotel and was so taken with the area that he began investing in local real estate. By 1890, he had purchased 125,000 acres south and west of the city, including Mount Pisgah, and embarked on the construction of his country house.
Vanderbilt, a well-traveled and somewhat bookish man, envisioned something more than a typical Southern home, and he certainly achieved that. He opted for a French Renaissance chateau and hired Richard Morris Hunt, the leading architect of the day. For the landscape, he commissioned renowned American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, while American forester Gifford Pinchot was brought on as the director of forestry.
The house was designed to include the most advanced technology of the time: central heating, plumbing, refrigeration, elevator and dumbwaiter service, and sophisticated electrical engineering. Construction employed 1,000 laborers and artisans over five years, with a three-mile railway spur built from what is now Biltmore Village.
The railway spur was constructed to facilitate the transportation of construction materials, workers, and supplies needed for the massive construction project of the Biltmore Estate. Given the scale of the estate, which required vast amounts of building materials and laborers, the railway spur provided an efficient and practical means to bring these resources directly to the site, streamlining the construction process. Additionally, it likely aided in transporting goods and guests to and from the estate after its completion.
When completed, the house boasted 250 rooms and four acres of floor space, requiring eighty servants to maintain it. The grand opening of “Biltmore” on Christmas Eve in 1895 attracted worldwide press attention. The New York Times, in a front-page article, called the estate “the most valuable as well as the most extensive private property in America.”
George Vanderbilt passed away in 1914, having enjoyed his home for less than two decades. After his death, the estate faced significant financial difficulties. Maintaining such a large property was costly, and with much of the Vanderbilt fortune tied up in the estate, there was pressure to generate revenue to cover expenses.
The sheer size and complexity of the Biltmore House made preservation a daunting task. As the largest privately owned house in America, the cost of maintaining the structure, grounds, and furnishings was substantial. Initially, the Biltmore House was only widely known in certain circles, necessitating more marketing to attract visitors. Building a reputation as a tourist destination required time and effort, especially in the pre-digital era when advertising and promotion were more challenging.
Over the next eight years, his widow, Edith, sold much of their land to the federal government to raise funds, including Mount Pisgah, one of the most notable and recognizable peaks in the area, which formed the nucleus of Pisgah National Forest. Their only child, Cornelia Vanderbilt, married British diplomat John Francis Amherst Cecil in 1924. Today, their descendants lead the corporation that operates the house.
First opened to the public in 1930, the Biltmore House struggled financially and did not turn a profit until 1968. Now a National Historic Landmark marketed as “America’s Finest Home,” it has become a major tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the world to marvel at its grandeur and history year-round.