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Christmas at the Biltmore
 Imagine strolling up to an enchanted castle on a crisp winter night, hundreds
of flickering luminaries lighting your path. Imagine stepping through a massive
door and into a world of dancing firelight, flickering candles and ethereal
music. No need to imagine-just come to Biltmore Estate for Candlelight Christmas
Evenings.
"As beautiful as Biltmore House is during the day, it's really
magical at night," said Cathy Barnhardt, Floral Displays Manager. "A feeling of
peace and serenity falls over you when you explore the house by candle and
firelight. It's easy to imagine you're one of George Vanderbilt's guests and
will soon be retiring to one of those lovely rooms upstairs to wait for
Christmas morning."
The Biltmore's Candlelight evening tours offer guests a
unique opportunity to experience Vanderbilt's 250-room chateau after hours.
Along with 700 poinsettias, 400 wreaths and bows, miles of evergreen garland, a
35-foot Fraser fir, and dozens of trees adorned with lavish decorations, holiday
music from ensembles and the Banquet Hall organ complete the experience. Choirs,
quartets, and other groups perform in the Winter Garden during evening
tours.
Or you can also tour the Biltmore House during the day, if you so
choose, and view this house that was the largest private home in America and a
technological marvel in 1895. When George Washington Vanderbilt III officially
opened the doors to the Biltmore on Christmas Eve in 1895, it was after six
years of a mammoth construction project. Vanderbilt equipped it with the latest
technological wonders: electricity, telephones, central heating, mechanical
refrigeration, elevators, fire alarms and central plumbing. Indoor bathrooms at
the time were a distinct luxury, and the Biltmore has 43. Washing in a tub with
running water was a thrill. Indoor plumbing had not reached the toilet
facilities at this time, and there were no lavatories in the bathrooms.
In
addition, a bowling alley (with wooden balls of various sizes for different
games), a swimming pool with underwater lights, and a gym with private dressing
rooms provided opportunities for indoor recreation.
As you can imagine,
construction on the four-story stone home with a 375-foot front facade required
an army of workers. A village was built outside the property just to house them,
and they traveled about three miles onto the estate each day to work. A private
rail spur hauled building supplies, including limestone from Indiana and marble
from Italy. A kiln produced 32,000 bricks per day, woodworkers created oak and
walnut flooring, and a nursery propagated 2,935,615 plants for the grounds.
Another half million or so were collected locally; 2,870,675 were eventually
planted on the estate.
To prepare for the great estate's interior
decoration, George Vanderbilt traveled the world. Years before, his father and
grandfather had amassed the great Vanderbilt fortunes in shipping and railroad,
while George preferred the life of a scholar and a traveler. He visited Europe,
Africa and Asia for every year of his adult life, and he was fluent in seven
languages. Going on a worldwide buying trip was an adventure that he
relished.
Despite his scholarly life, Vanderbilt endeavored to make Biltmore
a working, income-generating estate. He started a successful dairy; farms
yielded produce, meat and honey from 41 beehives. His forests produced 3,000
cords of wood annually that were processed at the Biltmore's mill. A 300-acre
nursery offered 5 million plants for sale. Today, restaurants, a hotel, a winery
and beef cattle production are thriving industries-in addition to
tourism.
After George Vanderbilt's unexpected death in 1914 following an
emergency appendectomy, the house eventually passed into the hands of his
grandsons. During the Depression, the City of Asheville approached them to open
the house as a tourist attraction. Even charging the extremely high price of $1
for admission, the Biltmore House and Estate attracted many visitors during
those tough times.
Here is a peak inside the Biltmore:
The Banquet Hall. Reminiscent of the
great feasting halls of English lore, the center of this magnificent room is
dominated by an oak dining table surrounded by 64 chairs. The acoustics
reportedly allow people at opposite ends of the table to converse in normal
tones. Adding to the medieval motif are: two gilt-trimmed throne chairs; triple
fireplaces flanked by armor from the 1400s to 1800s; a sideboard with 18th and
19th century copper and brass vessels from Spain, France and Holland; and an
organ gallery. Adorning the walls are five of a set of seven massive Flemish
tapestries from 1546 to 1553 depicting the love triangle Venus, Mars and
Vulcan.
The Salon. When the men retired to the Billiard Room, Smoking Room or Gun
Room, the women moved to the Salon. Here, they would read, play games like whist
and euchre, or play chess with the set used by Napoleon while exiled on St.
Helena Island (1815-1821). They could also consider the wonderful hangings
created for Cardinal Richelieu, the 17th century French statesman.
The Library. A lover of the printed word, George Vanderbilt kept a journal
listing the books he read-sometimes recording many in one week. He acquired a
collection of 23,000 books in eight languages, of which about 10,000 are on
display wall-to-wall, two stories high in the library. Many are first editions
and almost all are leather-bound and gilt tinted. Author Henry James visited the
Biltmore in 1905 and complained that his bedroom was half a mile away from the
"mile-long library."
Other antiques and art decorate the library, including:
the Giovanni Antonio Pelligrini (1675-1741) ceiling painting, "The Chariot of
Aurora," originally from the Pisani Palace in Venice. Giant Ming Dynasty urns
that were used as goldfish bowls rest among walnut and silk damask settees,
armchairs and side chairs in 19th c. Baroque style.
Mrs. Vanderbilt's Bedroom. Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt was a descendant of
Peter Stuyvesant, the first governor of Dutch colonial New York. Orphaned at 10,
she was raised by her maternal grandmother. Richly appointed in gold and purple
décor, the room appears today as it did at Edith's arrival. The room is
decorated in Louis XV style with two French period marble-topped.
As was the
practice of the day, Mr. Vanderbilt had his own bedroom.
The Music Room. Planned, but not completed, the Music Room was restored and
opened in 1970. Certainly, the 20th c. Steinway piano is beautiful, but the eye
cannot be kept from the "Triumphal Arch of Maximilian," an 18th c. woodcut print
Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459-1519) commissioned from Albrecht Dürer and
others about 1515. Ten feet tall and wide in 192 separate printed blocks, the
cathedral-like design records military and political events, depicts the
emperor's accomplishments in linguistics and hunting, and lists a family tree.
Also of interest in the Music Room are the Meissen porcelain figures of the
12 Apostles from the mid-1700s. Created by Johann Joachim Kändler in the Meissen
factory, the pieces are from several different sets made for the Empresses
Amalia and Maria Theresa of the Austrian Hapsburgs.
Not commonly known, the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., stored paintings at the Biltmore
during WWII to protect them in case the war went badly.
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Paintings,
engravings, lithographs, prints, sculpture, furniture, tapestries, rugs,
porcelain, glass, pottery, books, clocks, musical instruments, clocks, weaponry,
ornate and original architecture, silver, and a conservatory filled with
hothouse plants and flowers from all over the world are showcased in this, the
largest private residence in America in its day. It's a great attraction to see,
day or night. Tickets for the Candlelight Christmas Evenings are for $40 for
adults and $20 for children 6-16, Sunday through Thursday, and $45 for adults
and $22.50 for kids, Friday through Saturday and December 26-January 1.
For
complete information about the Biltmore House and Estate, visit www.biltmore.com
or call 800-624-1575.
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