Moving into Biltmore House
from Biltmore's Blog
Have you ever moved into a custom-designed new home? If you have, you know that the punch list never seems quite buttoned-up on moving day. Little details seem to linger even after the last box is unpacked—and it was no different for George Vanderbilt when he moved into Biltmore House 120 years ago this month.
Ground was broken in 1889, and during the course of the six years that followed, Vanderbilt had been in close touch with his supervising architect Richard Sharp Smith, Biltmore house lead architect Richard Morris Hunt (located in New York), and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (also located in New York). Hunt passed away in August 1895, just months before completion of the house, but Sharp Smith was able to complete the plan. Read more here.
Literary Biltmore
from Biltmore's Blog
You only need to look at the Library at Biltmore House to understand how important books were to George Vanderbilt. Throughout much of his adult life, he read an average of 81 books per year, or one and a half books every week. A New York journalist who knew him wrote of Vanderbilt: “He was a bookworm, a student… I doubt not, he is one of the best read men in the country.” Given his literary leanings, it’s not surprising that he counted several prominent writers of the day among his friends.
Edith Wharton was born into New York society the same year as George Vanderbilt and moved in the same social circles, so it’s likely that the two knew each other most of their lives. Wharton rented the Vanderbilts’ apartment on the Left Bank in Paris from 1907 to 1910. She also visited Biltmore twice that we know of: her signature can be found in Biltmore’s guest book, dated November 1902 and December 1905. Read more here.
April 18, 2015
Photography by Parker J. Pfister (Above: South Terrace of Biltmore House)
A spring dream wedding at biltmore
from Biltmore’s Blog
Heather Haukaas and Roman Harper
The Couple
Rother: Heather Haukaas and Roman Harper are so close that their friends refer to them in a single name that combines both of their first names. The couple met in high school when Heather caused a splash as the new girl in town in Prattville, Alabama. Their love story spans 16 years as they went together to the University of Alabama, spent time apart, and reunited in New Orleans where Roman was a safety for the New Orleans Saints, and finally to Charlotte, where he now plays for the Carolina Panthers.
The couple knew they wanted a destination wedding and they wanted it to be fun for their guests with a touch of glamour. While at a bridal expo, Heather discovered Biltmore, visited, and fell in love with the beauty of the surroundings. With so many friends and family coming in for the wedding (especially from the East Coast), it was the ideal location, Heather says. Read more here.
Remembering the Forest Fair, 1908
from Biltmore's Blog
Biltmore forester Dr. Carl Schenck had reason to celebrate in 1908. After 13 years at Biltmore (including 10 years as director the Biltmore Forest School), he had helped to transform what was a barren landscape of overused terrain into America’s first managed forest, a model for the rest of the country. To increase public awareness of the revolutionary achievements on Biltmore’s 100,000-plus acres of forested land, he planned the three-day Biltmore Forest Fair over the Thanksgiving holiday, 1908. “This event will mark an epoch in American forestry,” proclaimed The American Lumberman.
An invitation to the Forest Fair was extended to 400 people, including President-elect William Howard Taft. “You may have heard something of the farms and of the forests found on the Biltmore Estate,” the invitation read. “Now we beg of you: Come and see them for yourself!” Although the president didn’t attend, about 100 people did, including educators, furniture manufacturers, and many timber industry executives from across the US. Read more here.
The lady in red
from Biltmore’s Blog
Rosita, by Spanish painter Ignacio Zuloaga (1870–1945), is one of the most eye-catching works in George Vanderbilt’s collection and represents his interest in Spanish art, which gained popularity in the last years of the 19th century.
Lounging on a divan draped with a mantón de manila (a flamenco dancer’s accessory), Rosita is wrapped in a white fringed shawl with a red floral flamenco skirt billowing out. She leans on her elbow and smiles, a huge red flower in her dark hair. Rosita is confident: a model at ease with being an object of beauty. So, how did this captivating woman come to stay permanently at Biltmore?
A celebrated artist
In 1913, Zuloaga, known as “The Great Basque,” was living in Paris where his reputation had grown since his first exhibition in 1890. He came from a family of artists and his great-grandfather was a contemporary of Goya, who Zuloaga cited as one of his major influences.
A rising star in the art world by the turn of the century, Zuloaga was known for his portraits, especially those of women with a great deal of personality. He also had a reputation for hosting memorable Parisian parties attended by artistic luminaries of the day, such as famed conductor and cellist Pablo Casals. Read more here.
a musical portrait
From Biltmore’s Blog
Among the most eye-catching elements of the Oak Sitting Room are two John Singer Sargent portraits, each with a distinctly different feel. The demure woman in a silk gown is Mrs. Benjamin Kissam, George Vanderbilt’s aunt. The lively woman dressed in a Spanish mantilla and flouncey dress is one of George Vanderbilt’s favorite cousins, Virginia Purdy Barker, otherwise known as Mrs. Walter Rathbone Bacon.
Virginia, whose nickname was Jenny, was born in 1853 and spent much of her youth in Bordeaux, France. She and her brother Clarence were George’s frequent travel companions and the three shared a love of music. While Clarence died not long after Biltmore House opened, Virginia, George, and their friends enjoyed happy times in the home as evidenced by photos taken during this time.
John Singer Sargent had painted family portraits for the Vanderbilts since around 1888 when he completed a portrait of Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt, George’s mother, which is displayed in the Tapestry Gallery along with Sargent’s 1890 portrait of George Vanderbilt. In 1895, Sargent painted Richard Morris Hunt, Biltmore’s architect, and Frederick Law Olmsted, the estate’s landscape architect; both of these works can be seen in the Second Floor Living Hall. Read more here.
The art of Biltmore’s open-air museum
from Biltmore’s Blog
Frederick Law Olmsted selected the major plantings at Biltmore with the utmost attention. Each had a specific purpose: to provide a certain color, texture or function, such as shade or height. But the manmade features of the gardens−statuary and planters−are more like the icing on the cake, hitting graceful notes throughout the landscape. So, what do we know about the artwork in Biltmore’s open air museum?
“To our knowledge, Olmsted did not specify any statuary at Biltmore,” says Bill Alexander, Biltmore’s Landscape and Forest Historian. Research shows most of the statues were purchased in the late 1800s in France and Italy by George Vanderbilt and Richard Morris Hunt, Biltmore’s architect. It’s likely that Olmsted did play a role in the placement of the statues because the three men worked so closely on every aspect of the design of Biltmore House and Gardens.
Classic Influences
Walking through the gardens, you’ll notice a number of statues featuring characters from Greek myth. The four terra cotta figures on the South Terrace—Faun, Adonis, Venus, and Hamadryad—are modeled after originals created by Antoine Coysevox, a prolific sculptor from the 17th century. If you look closely at the figure at the far right end of the Terrace, you’ll see Coysevox’s maker’s mark. Read more here.
Behind Biltmore’s Hidden doors
from Biltmore’s Blog
Designed both for aesthetics and hospitality, Biltmore’s hidden doors, such as the one pictured above in the Billiard Room, were designed to create a seamless appearance but provide access for staff providing service and convenience for guests; in this case, gentlemen who wanted to retire to the Smoking Room after a game of billiards.
When you’re in the Breakfast Room, your attention is bound to be drawn to the two Renoir portraits “Young Algerian Girl” and “Child with an Orange.” If you look just below “Child with an Orange,” you’ll notice the doorknob to the concealed door, designed to create a seamless appearance on the wall but allow servants to enter with hot meals.
When you’re in the Breakfast Room, your attention is bound to be drawn to the two Renoir portraits “Young Algerian Girl” and “Child with an Orange.” If you look just below “Child with an Orange,” you’ll notice the doorknob to the concealed door, designed to create a seamless appearance on the wall but allow servants to enter with hot meals. Read more here.
Fine Linens for fine living
from Biltmore’s Blog
Imagine a dinner in the Banquet Hall with George and Edith Vanderbilt. Your place at the 40-foot-long table might be set with as many as twelve pieces of silverware, three plates, plus a charger as well as cup and saucer made by made by British porcelain manufacturers Minton or Spode-Copeland. Baccarat crystal wine, sherry, and water glasses are set within your reach.
Meals at Biltmore were prepared with the utmost care and that attention to detail extended to the whole dining experience. In George Vanderbilt’s papers, Biltmore archivists found record of a purchase of monogrammed linen napkins from a shop in Paris, dated September 24, 1895. Details such as linens played a big role in the Vanderbilts’ spirit of gracious hospitality, but keeping these delicate items clean, crisp, and perfect required efforts almost unimaginable today.
In her 1903 book, Millionaire Households and Their Domestic Economy: Hints for Fine Living, Mary Elizabeth Carter− former housekeeper to another branch of the Vanderbilt family− gave a behind-the-scenes look at how houses such as Biltmore handled the excess laundry created by guests. “If you’re not prepared for large entertainment,” she warned, “bedlam is let loose below stairs and laundresses are driven almost mad.” Read more here.
