Biltmore Estate: The Most Distinguished Private Place

by John M. Bryan

Book Overview

"The most distinguished private place" - that is how, in 1893, the great landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted described Biltmore Estate, perhaps the most ambitious private building project of America's Gilded Age. It was only five years earlier that George Washington Vanderbilt purchased the first parcel of what would become his 125,000-acre estate in Asheville, North Carolina. Along with Olmsted, he commissioned the preeminent architect of the...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 084781811X
• ISBN13: 9780847818112
• Release Date: September 1994
• Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.3" x 12.4"

Customer Reviews

America's Castle

Biltmore is like some grand Loire Chateaux, that was transplanted in the Smokey Mountains, it is an unusual juxisposition. This book does a nice job getting at the history of this grandest of the Gilded Age Estates and the photographs are vivid, but somehow I felt slightly unsatisfied, maybe it was the lack of exterior photographs of the mansion or maybe it was that the book felt incomplete somehow. I will say that as far as I can tell this is the best book out there at the moment on Biltmore, and it is a nice book, it just somehow does not do this amazing estate justice. I would have like to have seen a more thorough book with more pictures and more comprehensive text, but as it is I still recommend it if you have an interest in this mansion or just Gilded Age splendor in general, but just be aware that this is not the definitive book, that has, alas, yet to be written.

Good book but not when compared to....

This book is a very nice book on the background of the Biltmore Estate, however, I think it should have went a little further and included more photos and information of the other rooms. It was interesting to see shots of the blueprint details, such as the front and back elevation, a shot of the first floor plan (albeit very blurry and almost impossible to read without some knowledge of what rooms exist in the space), and details of the exterior. To be honest I found the same information and more surfing the net. The best book I have found is "A Guide to Biltmore Estate" (1994) by Rachel Carley. Beautiful shots of many interior rooms, floorplans of all 4 levels with many of the rooms included (similar to the brochure given to visitors of Biltmore Estate). Overall this book is good (but fast) reading and I would recommend it to Biltmore fans.

The Magic of Biltmore!

I found this book on George Washington Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate in Ashville, North Carolina, to be extremelly through. This book includes sketchs of many of the considered facades for the home, and what their floorplans would have been.Pictures of all of the beautiful rooms in the house are included in this publication. Also included are sketchs of the many details of the home, included are the east facade, the Gate House, the gates that set next to the house, the Biltmore Village Church, and sketchs of many of the statues from Biltmore's gardens.Also included in this book is the histories of many of the principal players in Biltmore's creation, including Fredrick Law Olmsted the landscape designer, Richard Morris Hunt the arcitect, and of course George Vanderbilt the home's owner.Included is many of the landscape designs of Biltmore's gardens, and beautiful pictures of many of them. Pictures of Biltmore's Conservatory are included which sits in Biltmore's Walled Garden, to the north of Biltmore House.All in all, this book is great, and a great companion to a day long visit to Biltmore! If you loved Biltmore Estate, you'll love this book, I garentee it!

Too much black and white?

I enjoyed the story, don't get me wrong, but as for the pictures, yes it had numerous colors, but mainly black and white. I was surprised. Even pictures that weren't historic were in black and white. When I purchased this book, I had hoped for a good floorplan of the home, instead I got a little sketch that could hardly be read with a magnifying glass. Overall, very factual. It makes you realize just what went into the building process. Even if the paragraphs are a little too wordy.

The most interesting book on the creation of Biltmore.

Few people realize what effort it took to design and construct the largest private residence in the United States, but this book details it all from the breaking of the ground to the designing of the curtain rods. This book is one of the best written and most appealing architectural history books ever. The photographs and drawings in it are also to be commended. Many of the pictures offer breathtaking views of the mansion and its grounds as well as showing many vintage photographs taken at various times throughout its construction and times of residence. It also contains many pictures of Richard Morris Hunt's and Frederick Law Olmsted's original drawings and sketches. This book truly lives up to the impressive heritage one finds at the Biltmore. I would also recommend The Vanderbilts and the Gilded Age: Architectural Aspirations 1879-1901, by John Foreman, et al.