2020 in-between - part 7: upstairs and downstairs at the Biltmore and a drive through the gardens - Travel With Us

After walking around the first floor public rooms at the Biltmore, we were ready to walk up to the 2nd and 3rd floors and down to the 1st basement (yes, there is a 2nd basement). Finally we’ll drive through the gardens on our way to the Downton Abbey exhibit on the estate. Information taken from the tour booklet are in quote marks.

“The creation of Biltmore was a collaborative effort between George Vanderbilt, architect Richard Morris Hunt, and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted . . . who also designed Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds, and many other parks.”

2nd floor living hall

The family’s bedrooms are on this floor, as well as bedrooms for close friends when they visited. This living hall would have been a comfortable place for all to visit with each other.

This portrait of the Cecil family is featured in this room.

When leaving the living hall, this hallway is on the left heading toward George’s bedroom.

Mr. Vanderbilt’s bedroom

“Look in his closet to see the early 1900s version of a fashionable wardrobe.”

oak sitting room

“Joining the family bedrooms is this paneled siting area where the Vanderbilts relaxed and planned the day with the head housekeeper. As hostess of Biltmore, it was Edith Vanderbilt’s responsibility to keep track of arriving guests, anticipate their needs, and plan meals and social activities.

In August 1900, George and Edith welcomed the arrival of their only child, Cornelia Vanderbilt. The family was so prominent that her birth was mentioned in the society pages of newspapers across the country.

Mrs. Vanderbilt’s bedroom

“This feminine retreat became Edith Vanderbilt’s room upon her marriage at age 25. Purple and gold silk fabrics and furnishings in the Louis XV style decorate this oval room with its richly painted ceiling. Doors in the bedroom lead to the Lady’s Maid’s Room, the bathroom, and closets.

Edith’s closet can be seen through the parted drapes.

“Etiquette of the era dictated correct attire for every activity, which meant the Vanderbilts and their guests, the ladies in particular, needed to change their clothes as many as seven times a day—a different outfit for breakfast, walking in the gardens, afternoon tea, dinner, and more.”

3rd floor

We walked through this hallway and then down a couple of steps . . .

to get to the 3rd floor corridor featuring a Gothic arched ceiling.

I think this hallway is one of my favorites because of the perspective and all of the artwork that’s been framed in exactly the same way. With this hallway I began appreciating all that George had bought on his travels and then stored so they could be appreciated at Biltmore. So glad he planned ahead.

This floor is home for most of the guest rooms at Biltmore.

3rd floor living hall

“Guests in nearby rooms came here to read, listen to music, and unwind. Notable furnishings include Herter Brothers display cabinets and bookcases inherited by George Vanderbilt from his father’s home in New York City.”

guest rooms

The first guest room we came to was the Watson Room.

“This room was names for the engraver James Watson and is part of a suite of rooms named for artists whose works are displayed. It is also the only bedroom with twin beds.”

The sitting area is on the other side of the room.

Look at this hallway that runs through all of the guest rooms in this wing. We’ll talk about it in a few minutes.

“Each of the 33 guest rooms in Biltmore House is decorated in a different style as was fashionable in the late 1800s.”

“Decorated in the Colonial revival style, this room features prints after paintings by the 17th-century artist Anthony Van Dyck.”

“Named for the English painter George Morland, this bedroom features bed draperies which are exact reproductions of hand-painted originals that George and Edith Vanderbilt brought back from the Italian villa where they honeymooned in 1898.”

“This is one of the house’s 43 bathrooms—a rarity in 1895 when many homes in America did not have a single indoor bathroom.”

Did you notice that we’re looking at this bedroom from a different view?

We’re in the external hallway looking into the room. I asked the docent about why the rooms had interior and exterior hallways. She said that often guests staying here were groups of friends so they could use the interior hallways to see each other. The exterior hallway would be used by the servants. Interesting.

basement

This stone hallway gives us a view of the foundation walls.

“It took almost two years to build the foundations and footings that extend down about 29 feet.”

Halloween room

“In April 1924, Cornelia Vanderbilt married the Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil.” Members of their future family are still involved in the operation of Biltmore estates.

“In 1925, the couple spent weeks painting these wall scenes for a New Year’s Eve party.”

Cornelia and her husband did such an amazing job of painting this room.

bowling alley

dressings rooms

Along this hallway is a row of dressing rooms for female guests so they could change into their “appropriate bathing costumes.”

This is 1 of the 10 rooms for the women for changing clothes.

swimming pool

“The 70,000-gallon indoor pool was heated and still has its original underwater lighting. The unique tile vaulting was designed by architect Rafael Guastavino.

gymnasium

“Keeping fit and healthy were popular pastimes at the beginning of the 20th century. ‘Needle Baths’ along the back wall [picture on the right] were the equivalent of modern shower massages.” See any equipment that looks familiar?

servants’ domain

This hallway takes us to where the real work was done at Biltmore. See the docent on the left wearing the face mask? She’s coming up from the lower basement where the equipment for running Biltmore is housed. Years ago we took an extra tour that took us to this 2nd basement; so interesting!

But back on our level of the basement, this motor had a room of its own. It drives the fan providing air for the Banquet hall’s pipe organ.

On the left is the vegetable pantry for storing fresh fruits and vegetables. On the right is a walk-in mechanical refrigeration system that was used instead of iceboxes or spring houses to cool food.

In this pastry kitchen, the chef would make “elaborate desserts protected from the heat of the Main Kitchen.”

storage for canned products and dry food

In this rotisserie kitchen, “roasted” meats, such as venison and turkey, were prepared here to keep the smoke and grease out of the other kitchens.

In the main kitchen, “most of the prep work and cooking occurred here under direction of the chef, who held one of the most important staff positions in the house. He led a team of more than a dozen kitchen workers who were responsible for preparing meals ranging from staff breakfasts to gala dinners.”

The kitchen pantry was the final place for the prepared food before it went upstairs to the dining rooms.

One of the rooms we saw on an additional tour was the Butler’s Pantry on the first floor just outside of the dining rooms.

This room has both an electric and manual dumbwaiters that raised trays of food to the first floor Butler’s Pantry and to the second floor above it.

This servants’ dining room was for the up to 30 servants who worked at Biltmore House. A dining room maid was responsible “for setting the table, serving the food, and cleaning up after each meal.”

Walking up a few steps, we came to the service entrance. “From luggage and trunks to 30 dozen eggs a week, everything needed to run the house came through this door.” Yes, that’s an elevator on the left that was used for taking heavy trunks upstairs.

rooms we didn’t see

Some of the rooms we didn’t see on this walk through the basement included the servant’s bedrooms for the female servants (the male employees, such as footmen and stable boys, lived above the stable). We also didn’t see the main laundry and drying room. Laundresses worked into the evening to wash and dry bed, bath, and table linens. In the drying room was a system of electric drying racks to ease their work.

bachelors’ wing

The bachelors’ wing on the main floor included the billiard room that we’ve also seen.

In the *Smoking Room*, “male guests enjoyed after-dinner cigars, pipes, and brandy in this room.

Next to the smoking room is the *Gun Room*. “Hunting parties were a popular pastime on country estates. Guests selected guns from George’s collection to use on their excursion.”

As we left the house, we saw this covered area where guests could enter the home during bad weather.

After some information on the family and the home, we’ll leave Biltmore House through the gardens.

more about the family and the home

“Biltmore functioned much like a luxury hotel, requiring an exceptional staff to ensure day-to-day operations ran smoothly, even to the coordination of carriage rides. Employees received room, board, and uniforms as well as New York wages—a substantially higher rate than the Asheville standard.”

“As a young girl growing up at Biltmore, Cornelia Vanderbilt enjoyed the entire estate as her own backyard. Her childhood swing set was located near the statue of Diana, atop the Vista in front of Biltmore House. She enjoyed splashing around in the Front Lawn fountain and fishing at the Lagoon.”

“The Vanderbilts demonstrated an unwavering commitment to their community. Their initiatives included a Moonlight School to teach estate workers how to read and write, and Biltmore Estate Industries, in which local men and women learned practical skills like woodworking and weaving.”

“In 1914, George Vanderbilt died of complications from an appendectomy at the age of 51. He was buried in the Vanderbilt family mausoleum on Staten Island. After his passing, Edith Vanderbilt assumed responsibility for running the estate and raising their daughter Cornelia, who was just 13 at the time.”

Biltmore House was opened to the public in 1930 by Cornelia and her husband, John Cecil. This move was a way to bring in some money for running the estate and giving people a little bit of beauty during the Depression.

gardens

“Biltmore’s gardens and grounds offered the Vanderbilts’ guests a wide range of leisurely outdoor activities, including horseback riding, fishing, and playing croquet on the green in the Italian Garden” to the left of the house. “The estate even had its own golf course during the Vanderbilts’ era.”

A number of gardens and trails are available. Sad to say, we’ve never allowed ourselves enough time to explore the grounds. But I do have to say that the gardens don’t compare to the gardens at Filoli, a country house built around 1920 set in 16 acres of formal gardens surrounded by a 654-acre estate, located in Woodside, California, about 25 mile south of San Francisco.