The fact that they can call it a historical site and keep it in the family whilst being a tourist location and getting state funds is crazy. I want one.
A relatively similar one is the breakers at Newport. It was technically sold to the preservation society for $1 on the agreement that the family still live there. They lived on the upper floors that people can't access. The reality is these places are extremely expensive and were built at a time when there wasn't much to do. So the entire social circle would move to places in the mountains or to Newport for the summer.
It’s bc after the latest cataclysm these buildings started getting hijacked by the white folks. America used to be filled with these and if you really take the time to research the old world and what others have dug up and posted you’d realize this world used to be a loving and comfortable place where we all Knew we were One. Kings served what they ruled, didn’t take advantage of the peasants and so on. They harnessed electricity to power the cities. I got some vids on my shorts but that’s also why Freemasonry is a big thing. Your body is the temple of God, we are God given the gift of life as this person. They’d build everything after our bodies electrical paths. Our glands and nerves, organs are much more than just pumps for our blood. They store our emotional energy and are the reason we even have emotions and such. It’s deep but also you can see they use the biological terms for our body in the different parts of the buildings
Yes been there almost every Christmas when we lived in cherokee nc its beautiful did you know anderson cooper spent summers there with his mother wish i could of seen there
I used to work there years ago. It is amazing to see. The library is my favorite room. Floor to ceiling books. I would have loved to be able to read the titles.
You mean income taxes helped reduce the obscene amount of the fruits of workers' labor that was held in the hands of the elite such as the trust fund baby who owned this estate?
Sometimes I wonder if it’s better without tax. The idea of tax is that the money goes into funding public projects such as road maintenance or schools or social projects yet it went into the lining pockets of some sob
@@AlexS-oj8qf exactly. I hate when people complain, saying the rich need to pay more tax, when we all already know the taxes currently collected aren't being used correctly.
@@AlexS-oj8qf It's better for the rich without tax. The workers who built this place did it for a pittance, without weekends off and with no recourse if they were injured. They were just fired, and if they died from the negligence, well too bad for the widow and family.
The blocks used to build this place are massive. Going there in person taking a tour it’s like the rooms literally never end. Amazing place if you get the chance to go.
I was going to say the same thing. It's the size of the stones that absolutely blew my mind. Also the kitchen and the copper piping absolutely mind-blowing
Nobody asked ! You took a trip to a house you could never afford!! If you’re going to brag , brag about something cool !! Sounds boring visiting a house that is nothing like your reality!!
I’m happy to visit Mansions in Tucson that have been remodeled to allow for 130 small apartments for seniors! The living spaces look like they’re directly from Europe 😜👀🥰
My husband and I made a wonderful trip just before Christmas a few years ago and left Christmas Eve Day to return home for family celebrations. I have nothing but the fondest memories of our visit!
@@krazzysuSeriously? That's what you came here for? You do have a life right? (I am waiting, purposefully, for the spelling check errors!) I hope this is driving you nuts. Get a life and leave a person making a simple comment alone!
I visited the Biltmore estate in 1978. The library was impressive and the gardens were beautiful. Had the best chicken salad stuffed into the best tasting tomato i ever had for lunch. It was an amazing tour. I would do it again.
@@jasonlacroix6083 No, lunch not included... don't know about the cheese steak... the menu might be online? But it was in a restaurant in a former stable, I think, beautiful. 🥰 Yes, fabulous gardens. The experience was amazing. The Chihuly Glass sculptures were on exhibit in 2018 when I visited. 💕
Biltmore Estate is located in the mountains of Asheville North Carolina. The best time to travel here is when the leaves are changing in the fall. The Blue Ridge Parkway threads through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I'm proud to be born and raised in North Carolina where in the course of a day you can travel from some of the most beautiful mountains in the world to some of the most scenic beaches and harbors.
Don't forget we have the city life in Charlotte, Triad (Greensboro, Winston-Salem, & High Point), & the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, & Chapel Hill). And we got that country farm 🚜 life too 😀
Just got back from a trip up to Virginia, and we stopped in Asheville on the way. We hadn't planned to stay for too long but ended up arriving just in time for the trolley tour. The Biltmore was not in the time frame, but seeing the rest of the beautiful architecture in Asheville was great.
@@theCajonwarriorYeah and Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High point are crime filled. Don't forget 5 law enforcement officers gunned down in Charlotte
Went with my family during Christmas time and goodness gracious it is amazing! The way they decorated the estate was incredible! They also have a 100 foot tall Christmas tree IN the house! And the ceiling was painted in some rooms as if Michelangelo had been there! Definitely recommend, great tourist destination!
The original home Vanderbilt had planned was 6000 sq ft. It was only after a 2 month tour to Europe that he and his architect upgraded the house to 170k square feet.
Other details not covered here: It was one of the first homes to have hardwired electricity for lighting It’s nearly 180,000 square feet The 8,000 remaining acres pale in comparison to the ~125,000 originally purchased for the estate, which were sold to help cover its running costs They actually modified the landscape of the property to add hills and make the view more interesting
3 месяца назад
First private bowling alley too I believe. It was used in the movie "There will be blood"
My grandmother grew up on the grounds because her father was one of the estate supervisors. Grandma said they were very kind and generous. I took my mother to see Biltmore so she could admire her family's history that she heard about from the time she was a child. It's an amazing piece of architecture and an icon of the Gilded Age.
You can't even imagine how grand and incredible Biltmore is until you see it. I've seen pictures my whole life and when I took my family to see it and it came into sight as we were taken to it, it was awe inspiring and breathtaking. It's absolutely HUGE and has engineering that I didn't even know existed in that time period. It had electricity in every room that was generated by it's own power station on the property. It had central heating, hit and cold running water (bathing, cooking, etc) and had mechanical refrigeration (food, etc). It's just an incredible example of what an unlimited budget could buy even back then.
So you went to visit but it makes you wonder so many people living in the streets I wonder how big your actual house is and how much rent you pay or property taxes do you realize nowadays for somebody to live in a house like that they would have to be young healthy and selling some kind of drugs they would have to be drug kingpins to afford it either that'll sell petroleum to Rich Nations
Imagine an elderly person in his 80s with dementia walking around that property??? It's obvious that that place is meant for the entire family of whoever owns that and they would have to be quite young like toddlers or kids will be raised there until they old enough to become prince and princess or Kings or Queens or whatever the ultra privileged do
@@damianlopez7630 yes, that's exactly how it went. They left it to their children, etc. and I believe about 10 years ago there was some deal made with the state of North Carolina to turn it into a tourist attraction to pay taxes, etc. This is straight from Wikipedia: The estate today covers approximately 8,000 acres (13 sq mi; 32 km2) and is split in half by the French Broad River. The estate is overseen by The Biltmore Company, a trust set up by the family. The company is a large enterprise that is one of the largest employers in the Asheville area. Restaurants were opened in 1979 and 1987, and four gift shops in 1993. The former dairy barn was converted into the Biltmore Winery in 1985. The 210-room luxury hotel, named The Inn on Biltmore Estate, opened in 2001. In 2010, the estate opened Antler Hill Village, consisting of gift shops and restaurants, as well as a remodeled winery, and connected farmyard. In 2015, the Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate, a more casual option to The Inn with 209 rooms, was opened in Antler Hill Village.
@@damianlopez7630 yes, but I agree. I couldn't imagine the upkeep. You would absolutely need a huge staff to take care of that place. You also would need a DEEP, DEEP financial budget to pay taxes, etc. The original builder was a railroad tycoon. He had more money than he knew what to do with. Only a person that had about 40 billion in US dollars would be able to sustain that and it would have to have income too.
My wife and I went here in the spring of 1989, the cost for both of us was $38. However, the third floor hadn't been opened up yet. We bought the book.
One of the most fascinating places you could ever visit. There’s so much history to be appreciated. Layers upon layers of detailed tours within the property and grounds. So much to see in and out of the house.
The Biltmore is located near Asheville, North Carolina and that entire area is absolutely beautiful. From the front lawn of the Biltmore you get a clear view of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance, not to mention that entire estate has become somewhat of a resort, with lodging and other opportunities available
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. John 14:2-3
Yes, Western NC is the place to be. Or the coast. The middle part of NC used to be nice rural areas with good people, but now it's mostly urban decay/crime/gangs/drugs and uppity New Joisey types who bring their own kind of urban decay. NC hasn't been nice for several decades.
$120 a person. I can find much better things to spend $120 on. It would have actually cost me $240. Lol. If i'm not interested in $120 i'm definitely not interested in $240. And, if I remember correctly, it was more than that when we checked a year and a half ago. Turned away at the gate and never looked back. Still Don't regret that decision. I know for certain if I would have paid I'd said " it was cool but not worth the $240."😅
What's that law that claims the government needs the land for a new highway or better yet , for a RAILROAD??? But then, the more wealth you acquire the more freedoms you have.❤😂🎉
EMINENT DOMAIN but in different states it might be called something else BUT THIS GENTLEMAN WILLIAM VANDERBILT HE DIDN'T FORCE THE PEOPLE TO LEAVE HE PAID THEM MORE MONEY THAN THEIR THAN THEIR PROPERTY WAS VALUED TO GET THEM TO SELL
And my husband and I had the pleasure of seeing it personally when I lived in North Carolina. It is incredibly beautiful and offers visitors an opportunity to temporarily share residential opulence with the opulent owners.
It's BEYOND beautiful . I've toured it twice. Worth the drive and all the walking . Bought a plant the 2nd time there in their greenhouse and love seeing it every day in the yard as a reminder .
I hate some of the changes they had to make to turn it into a safer place to open up the public. I remember going to see it and one of the most beautiful places to me was the outdoor pool. A giant beautiful angel was on each corner of the outdoor pool. Then I came to see it and the pool was filled in as if it never existed. It didn’t mention it or show a plaque of what it originally looked like. History erased!
Between the on-site historians AND the younger generation of George’s descendants who were starting to work for “the family business” they decided to get rid of it because it was not original to the house. His daughter Cornelia added it some years after the house was completed (in the 20’s I believe ) so since it supposedly wasn’t part of George’s “original plan” for the Estate they filled it in. Throughout the early-mid 90’s through the late 90’s they had evening concerts there. I volunteered to work just to see the shows!! LOL Carly Simon, Carol King, James Taylor - just to name a few. What kills me is that they did away with the pool because it wasn’t original but then they added on a giant, three story structure onto the back of the old stables (The Stable Cafe) to add an actual commercial kitchen for the restaurant. The lower level was storage, a pastry kitchen and management offices and kitchen on the main and a smaller one on the upper level where they turned the old hay loft into a private dining room.
This is absolutely stunning! This is absolutely going on my bucket list. I didn't even know this existed in the US.. i love old, historical homes and buildings..❤
I didn’t realize it was still owned by the Vanderbilt family. With all the wealth they accumulated off the backs of hardworking Americans, the cost of admission to this place is obscene on so many levels…
I love Colin North Carolina home, and Biltmore is an incredible working estate. They farm they do everything. That's how they keep it going. But the genius of it is the man who designed the entry and driveway into the place. You never get to see it for 2 and 1/2 mi and then there it is and all it's glory. That was genius.
Vanderbilt family is a perfect example while living trust, (usable life insurance), and strict terms to keep access to that trust are paramount for a families generational success.
Didn’t the Vanderbilt family piss through all of their money by living like financial idiots? Pretty sure it was about thirty years after Cornelius Vanderbilt died the family held a reunion at Vanderbilt college and there was not a single millionaire left among them
There is an article that Forbes wrote about trusts and the Kennedy family and trusts were stated as the main reason for maintaining wealth. The Vanderbilts not only built the Biltmore but another mansion. I think it’s called Breakers if I’m not mistaken. I often wonder if these mansions were not built so large if there would be money left over. They would have had to leave it alone and let it compound over time though. Family money should be kept in a trust so one family member can’t get a hold of all the money and spend it on stupid stuff like mansions, supercars, watches, or gambling addiction.
Rich people need to do this more. I read how George Vanderbilt employs so many people a whole village is built only to house them nearby. He also encourage forest reservation in his lands and repair the depleted Appalachian forest, saving it for the future generations. People like him, Andrew Carnegie, Peggy Guggenheim, and all the other rich people who are selfless in their actions and do things that not only benefit themselves but others have my highest regards.
All of those people only built things so as to have their names attached to them forever as a form of purchased immortality, billionaires today still build and donate things to the public but they don't demand that they be named after them.
I toured this house 2 times when i was a kid and one time my granny was with me 🩵 its Gorgeous. A castle of beautiful architecture and furniture that you can literally get lost in.This house has a horse stable and a bowling alley. They also have an entire corridor for the house servants who worked there to live in. I remember i liked their kitchen area better than the kitchen in the main house where the wealthy people lived. I wish someday i can get to live in North Carolina again.
@lulumoon6942 it's true! Do a deep dive - research on it when you have time. It is mind opening to the suppressed truth. The hidden truth is all around.
This manor is so beautiful. The most interesting rooms in it to me were in the basement. The kitchens and the laundry. They washed the clothes and used giant racks that spun at a slow rate of speed to dry the clothes. They had separate rooms for the preparation of dishes. Vegetables in one room, baked goods in another and meats in another. The swimming pool is also in the basement with private changing rooms( I think there were 22 rooms). There was also a gym/ play room that was a full basketball court. The efficiency of the design was impressive.
Easy just don't get into debt............sacrifice, save and invest in yourself. If you got to get in debt for in or get it on credit YOU DON'T NEED IT
@@Euro2005mcthe problem arises when you do crooked illegal stuff to get that money then build something like this to shove it in their faces. That’s the only reason to build a house that you couldn’t possibly need the majority of it. I’m a little biased against the robber barons. If you really look into it you’d probably be as well. On a side note do you like taxes coming out of your check ? Of course not after all the founding fathers made it clear that taxes should not be lobbied against someone’s wages. It was unconstitutional to collect a federal income tax. You can thank all the robber barons but mostly JP Morgan for that. They decided that they wanted more money so they came up with true federal reserve a tax act in a secret meeting in 1912. It’s not a conspiracy theory. It actually happened and that’s why you now get less than what you actually earned at work.
I went spring 2024 and it really is exquisite! Thankfully, it isn’t some creepy empty house. The staff that work there get to stay in some of the rooms.
We have been there a few times especially during Christmas when all of the decorations are out. It’s insanely large but beautiful especially during Christmas!
I go there every Spring. The scenery in Asheville is breathtaking. I live in NC, 4 hrs from Biltmore. The landscape is beautiful and the greenhouses are impressive.❤❤❤
This kind of wealth, is absolutely something I cannot comprehend. To have an entire small towns worth of peoples, land and infrastructure within a single property is just amazing to me
They don't take care of it!!! The estate was trusted to a conservation. The conservation cares for and pays for EVERYTHING!!! Yet they continue to live there .. FOR FREE! This is how the rich stay rich, living off every one else!
@@Caterina...3 You CLEARLY have no idea whatsoever what you’re talking about. The people who own and run Biltmore Estate are direct descendants of George Vanderbilt himself - the man who built it!! It’s not now nor has it ever been in any kind of conservatorship. Furthermore, nobody lives in the house anymore. There hasn’t been anyone living in it since 1953. And the family that runs the Estate now very well may be financially well off, they aren’t anywhere even remotely close to being as wealthy as their family once was nor anywhere close to as wealthy as you’re trying to make them out to be.
I've been there, its beautiful. The grounds are amazing with flowers and blooming trees. Oh as well as the delicious wine they harvest and make right there!
I visited this place with my Dad when I was young, in my early teens. At that time, I wasn't too happy about the thought of a vacation to an old house for a tour.... but let me tell you, I was so enamored and amazed by this place! I haven't been back since, but I think about it often and plan to take my daughter when I feel like she could appreciate it. At the time, they offered a 1 hour quick basic tour, a 4 hour tour, and a 10 hour extended tour. We took the 4 hour tour, and didn't even get to see a third of the house. This house is really truly something to behold. It was also the first house in the US with plumbing and flushable toilets, which is wild to me considering the massive size of this place and that there was very little knowledge about plumbing in general at the time. If you ever visit, I highly suggest the 4 hour tour at a minimum, but make sure to stop by their bakery! I don't even remember what it was that I bought from there, but each thing was so decadent and delicious, and the pastry crusts literally melted away in my mouth like butter.... ugh, their bakery items are out of this world! I'd go back just for the bakery tbh 😂
@@davehaggerty3405 Hearst Castle was built about 25 years after Biltmore. The interiors are a lot alike, same period faucets, tapestries on the walls and lots of art work. Hearst Castle indoor pool is much better its deck has gold inlay and is actually used. Biltmore pool can’t hold water it leaks out.
I’ve been to Hearst Castle about three times. Hearst castle sits on a mountain overlooking the ocean. Stay in one of the beach towns along the coast below Hearst castle. There is Pismo, San Luis Obispo, Morro Bay, Cayucos or Cambria.
Yep. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul. We should live for Jesus and be focused on eternity rather than our short life here on Earth
If I had Jeff Bezo kind of money, I’d buy this, instead of a $500 million dollar yacht. I’d love this house and never move. I’d hire staff that I would treat like my own family, and hopefully they’d love my family lol their own, and basically have generational worker. I’d hire the best French/Italian Pastry chef’s, and try to hire the best chefs around the world…Fantasy I know…
Jeff doesn't have the money to buy this house! They said in the tour that the 2 biggest companies could get together and still not have the money the house is worth.
@@StringofPearls55 That's why they have tours. It is still owned by the Vanderbilt family which Anderson Cooper is part of. They still have private areas of the house.
Season passholder here and I adore the place. Any time of the year is wonderful. If you go consider taking a tour of the grounds where they tell you about the conservation projects, very impressive.
That's right my state is beautiful. We have all kinds of variety of living. If you want to live on the beach ⛱️, we got that. If you want to live on a farm 🚜 or out in the country, we have that. If you want to live in the Mountains ⛰️, we have that. And if you want to live in the city, we have all that. But the people are dummer then a bag of rocks 🪨
How many tens of thousands of dollars are property taxes? Sometimes a home isn't worth w taxes and upkeep - maintenance That's clearly what happened here You'd need a stream of income of millions just proper upkeep for this place
The thing has the size of a 7,500-inhabitant town. It is a magnificent place that should be turned into those: a free hospital, a university, a library, a museum.
I've been there - impressive place from a time like today when insanely rich people lived insanely lavish lives while the workers that created that wealth were treated like dirt.
No but they enjoyed the spoils while they lived. You think the wealthy would stop accumulating wealth bc "they can't take it with them?" Its always the worst argument. They do so to enjoy it while they're here. And still, moot point, considering even generations after the patriarch of the family, Cornelius, passed away, the rest of the scores of Vanderbilts still had enormous wealth that they enjoyed for generations after.
It also has a huge underground bunker. The largest in the country that is not government owned. The bunker is off limits to the public. It was built in secret and there is no plans showing it, but the main tunnels between the buildings are on the blueprints. The tunnels also served to service the fountains and supply the water for them and the water for the buildings.
One of the things I found most interesting about the pool was that it was fed by a gravity fed reservoir and it also had a natural filtration system to keep water flowing in and out. The estate is amazing and had the most cutting edge technology available at the time it was built.
That’s why they ultimately went bankrupt they over built but they did build some of the most beautiful places you’ve ever been to This place also has its own nursery just to replant the properties gardens every year and season
Yup! That, and too many family members in a row, never contributed anything back to the family fortune. All of them knew how to spend it though. Side note: If the nursery here interests you, you should check out "The Victorian Flower Garden". It has all sorts of wonderful tidbits about what it truly took to keep up the landscaping. The nurseries and of course the very commonly ever changing bouquets of fresh flowers all around in these massive mansions and castles. Its a slow paced very whimsical series. But i found it to be wildly interesting none the less. Here's a link to it if you care to check it out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qE2WRZpqq7s.html
@@dialatedxpupilzxselfish ppl in my opinion (ik folks will disagree, which is fine. To me it's just ridiculous to splash all THAT money and forget yk....the ppl after in ur family, and making sure everything else is good.)
Just checked. $93 per person. HOWEVER, you can save $50 on an annual pass during their summer sale this month, from $299 down to $249!!! Wow!!! What a bargain!!!!! 🙄😑 Almost everyone in the comment section is saying that it's worth the price... but is it really?
The estate used to be over ten times larger, and much of the land comprised what's now Asheville itself, but the Vanderbilts had to sell bits and pieces of it over the years because George Vanderbilt spent all his money building it.
Which also led too the bankruptcy of the Vanderbilt family once the richest family in the world but they spent their fortune into poverty. This house is a symbol of massive financial mismanagement and stupidity.😮
@@JoeLattimore-ss2pmwhich is the problem, the family is wealthy but back when this estate was built properly taxes weren't a thing, once introduced the family begin to struggle.
The dairy, winery, forestry and hotels which are owned by one half of the Cecil family are far more profitable than the house, itself, which brings in hundreds of millions every year - but the Cecils are poor, compared to Alfred Gwynn Vanderbilt III and his son, James Platten Vanderbilt the film director. Even the current Duke of Marlborough, their cousin is worth @ 300 million pounds.
The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina is 178,926 square feet, including 135,280 square feet of living space. Wife and I have been a few times. Definitely a beautiful place.
