4th grade
Lakeshore Elementary

It is located in Asheville, NC.

The style of architecture is chateau.
• A chateau is a French style of house.
• It is sort of like a castle.

The Biltmore was only Mr. Vanderbilt’s summer
home.

It was designed to be a self sustaining
residence.
• This means that the family didn’t need to leave the
grounds for food, water, etc.
 These
slides will introduce you to some
of the background information about
the Biltmore…



Vanderbilt was born to a poor family and
quit school at the age of 11 to work for his
father who was engaged in boating.
When he turned 16 he persuaded his mother
to give him $100 loan for a boat to start his
first business. He opened a transport and
freight service between New York City and
Staten Island for eighteen cents a trip.
At the time of his death, aged 82, Cornelius
Vanderbilt's fortune was estimated at $100
million. In his will, he left 95% of his $100
million estate to his son William and to
William's four sons
• $5,000,000 to Cornelius Vanderbilt II, and $2 million
apiece to William Kissam Vanderbilt, Frederick
Vanderbilt, and George Washington Vanderbilt,III.

Mr. Vanderbilt had 12 other children.





George W. Vanderbilt, youngest son of William
Vanderbilt and grandson of "Commodore"
Cornelius Vanderbilt, enjoyed visiting western
North Carolina for its mild climate and
spectacular scenery.
Born in 1862, young Vanderbilt was educated at
local private schools and at home by tutors.
He proved to be an able student with an active,
inquiring mind and began to read widely at a
very tender age. Around the age of twelve, he
began recording each book he read in a series
of small notebooks.
George loved to travel. He made many trips to
Europe. He loved architecture.
During a visit in the mid-1880s, Vanderbilt was
inspired by a view from Downtown Asheville so
spectacular that he purchased 125,000 acres in
the Blue Ridge Mountains for his summer estate.


The area was still so remote that Vanderbilt had to
build a private railway to the site to transport
supplies. He also constructed a village complete
with a post office and a church to accommodate
the laborers and their families.
Selecting a name for his estate, Vanderbilt
referenced his family — and the mountains of
Western North Carolina. The name “Biltmore” is
derived from “Bildt,” a Dutch town with citizens of
Vanderbilt ancestry, and “more,” an old English
term referring to rolling, mountainous countryside.

Construction of Biltmore House was under way in 1889; it was a
massive undertaking that included a mansion, gardens, farms,
and woodlands.
• George Vanderbilt engaged two of the most distinguished designers of the 19th
century: architect Richard Morris Hunt (1828-1895) and landscape designer Frederick
Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
• An architect is a person that designs buildings.

Hunt modeled the architecture on the richly ornamented style of the
French Renaissance and adapted elements, such as the stair tower
and the steeply pitched roof, from three famous early-16th-century
châteaux.
• A chateau is sort of like a French castle.
 The
main gate…
This is what it looks
like when you come
to the main
entrance of the
Biltmore Estate.
 The
family grew
plants indoors
during the winter
months.
 The
Library in Biltmore
House holds
approximately 10,000
of Vanderbilt's more
than 23,000 volumes.
 The
Banquet Hall is 72
feet long, 42 feet wide
and 70 feet high. It
could seat up to 64
guests.
 Most
of the cooking
was done in the Main
Kitchen with additional
work done in the
Rotisserie and Pastry
Kitchens.
 George
Vanderbilt's
bedroom enjoys
spectacular views
of the estate in
addition to 22k
gold leaf on the
walls.
 Mrs.
Vanderbilt's
Bedroom is decorated
with sumptuous cut
velvet and silk fabrics.
 The
room is
adorned with
velvet and
carvings on the
ceiling and
walls.
 Biltmore
does not receive any
governmental funding or grants,
making it one of the United States'
most significant National Historic
Landmarks that is preserved solely
through private funding.

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