THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 18, 1994 TAG: 9412160072
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CONNIE SAGE, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: Long : 131 lines
ONLY IN STORYBOOKS are there golden gingerbread houses, their window sashes trimmed with ruby red candy canes, roofs frosted with marzipan snow and sidewalks lined with licorice the color of onyx.
Except, perhaps, at the Biltmore House during Christmas.
The Vanderbilt mansion, bursting like a star on thousands of acres of North Carolina forest, is a fairy-tale home at its grandest in this season of silvery tinsel, candlelight and brimming tureens.
It was on Christmas Eve in 1895 when George Washington Vanderbilt welcomed family and friends to his new Asheville estate for the first time. In storybook fashion, each of the 34 bedrooms had its own lavishly decorated Christmas tree. Gifts in boxes wrapped in gleaming paper and bows hung from a 40-foot Christmas tree in the banquet room with a ceiling the height of a dozen men; the Yule tree dwarfed only by a wall made of three marble fireplaces and decorated with a bas relief called ``Return from the Chase'' and flags from the 12 nations in power when Columbus discovered America.
For Vanderbilt, this was no normal housewarming, for this was no normal house.
Using a chunk of the millions inherited from his grandfather Cornelius Vanderbilt's shipping and railroad mega-fortune, 25-year-old George Vanderbilt created a 19th-century American estate that rivaled the grandest manor houses in Europe. This was no mere French Renaissance chateau copycat. In the midst of the glitter and opulence of the Victorian age, the Biltmore ``house'' was a work of art, the piece de resistance, a gilded showcase crafted and molded with the care of a Greek statue.
The Biltmore was more mansion and laboratory than cozy home, with 255 rooms stretching over four acres. The estate showcased a collection of 50,000 global treasures. Whereas others collect postcards and souvenirs, Vanderbilt surrounded himself with china, silver, bronzes, tapestries, linen, glass, porcelain, books, paintings and prints that he bought on trips to every continent.
A futurist, Vanderbilt experimented with the latest innovations. The Biltmore was the first private U.S. residence to have electricity and the first home in the Southeast to have Otis elevators.
The 20th century hadn't dawned yet - Grover Cleveland was president, King C. Gillette invented the safety razor, the first professional football game was played in the country and Babe Ruth had just been born.
The house had every ``modern'' convenience, most unimaginable to middle America. There were 43 bathrooms, showers, central heat, central ventilation, mechanical refrigeration, a fire-alarm system, a network of in-home telephones, a complete electric laundry, an indoor swimming pool and a bowling alley.
While elegant, Biltmore is not ostentatious. And at a time when 15,000 businesses had collapsed and 4 million were unemployed, Vanderbilt kept the Asheville economy buzzing, employing about 1,000 workers in the five years it took to build the estate.
When the mansion opened its doors on Christmas Eve in 1895, it was a 14-carat gold holiday package being unwrapped. Inside was a magical winter wonderland awash in greenery, Victorian ornaments, bows, candles and the aroma of spices and flowers.
The Biltmore staff has re-created Christmas in the Gilded Age for tourists. Tours are self-guided (80 of the 650 employees are there to answer questions) and the Christmas candlelight tour, in particular, is spectacular.
Gas fireplaces are glowing in nearly every room. The voices of choirs from throughout the South echo in the auditorium-size first-floor rooms. A real, 40-foot Christmas tree with shiny bulbs the size of baseballs and cantaloupes fills the banquet room, much like it did nearly 100 years ago. Artificial Christmas trees are in 35 rooms and each tree has its own theme - usually to match the rooms - trimmed with toys, Victorian ornaments, Oriental ornaments, dried flowers, gold beads, angels, velvet or lace.
More than 200 wreaths, 1,800 poinsettias, 500 bows and 20,700 feet of evergreen swaddle three floors of the estate. Lavish arrangements of fruit and fresh flowers accent tables set with Minton china (with the Vanderbilt crest) and Baccarat crystal.
The Biltmore House has twice as many visitors over Christmas than the rest of the year - up to 7,000 a day - but the place is so cavernous that it's easy to see everything. Besides the house, there's a winery, with a self-guided tour and tasting, and plenty of gift shops to buy Biltmore wine and memorabilia. The Deerpath Restaurant has a Christmas lunch and dinner buffet fit for a Vanderbilt's tastes.
If you want the house to yourself, visit anytime in January or February when most would-be tourists are recovering from the holidays. ``It's like the water has been turned off,'' said guest relations employee Becky Rector. And Jan. 1 marks the centennial year of the estate, guaranteeing a flood of tourists in the warmer months.
If this time of year doesn't fit your schedule, consider an excursion between April 7 and May 7 during the Centennial Festival of Flowers.
The Biltmore is a must-see for any history buff, especially those who have overdosed on Virginia's colonial history. The Biltmore is a rare example of a different - and regal - part of America's legacy. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
THE BILTMORE ESTATE
The Biltmore's 255 rooms cover four acres of the Vanderbilt estate.
There are artificial Christmas trees in 35 rooms of the regal
Biltmore Houes, each with its own theme, usually to match the room.
Graphics
JUST THE FACTS
WHAT: The Biltmore House, including the estate, winery, a
restaurant, two cafes and seven shops.
WHERE: In Asheville, N.C., 400 miles southwest of Norfolk.
WHEN: Open daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's
Day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; also evening tours during the holidays.
Self-guided tours take two to four hours.
HOW MUCH: Daytime tickets are $25.95 for adults through Dec. 31;
$28.95 for the candlelight tour. After Jan. 1, tickets are $24.95
for adults. Discount tickets are available for children, disabled
and groups.
BILTMORE AT A GLANCE
Guinness lists it as the nation's largest private residence with
255 rooms (43 bathrooms, 35 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces).
Home of George Washinton Vanderbilt; current owner, grandson
William Cecil.
Named from ``Bildt,'' the Vanderbilts' ancestoral Dutch home, and
``more,'' an Old English word meaning upland rolling hills.
Located on 8,000 acres, with 75-80 acres of shrub, Japanese,
English, azalea and other formal gardens, including 50,000 tulips.
Constructed from 1890-1895 by 6,000 workers.
First private residence in the United States to have
electricity.
The house has 288 light fixtures, 180 electrical outlets.
There are two elevators and a system of synchronized clocks.
by CNB