On June 13, 1902 a very elegant newcomer arrived at Biltmore House by train from New York. You could say this special addition to the Vanderbilt Music Room was truly made for Biltmore–and you’d be right!

The new member of the family was a handsome Steinway Model D concert grand piano that George Vanderbilt ordered from Steinway Hall, the company’s world-renown New York City showroom. The piano was built at the Steinway factory in Astoria, Queens, then shipped to Biltmore and placed in the Tapestry Gallery.

Music was an important part of the entertainment at Biltmore, and the beautiful Steinway quickly became popular with family and friends. During a visit to Biltmore in March 1905, Edith’s sister Pauline Merrill wrote to a friend and described it as “a wonderful-toned concert piano which Mr. Webb plays at any hour, on request or without it!” The enthusiastic piano player was the brother of George’s brother-in-law Seward Webb, the husband of his sister Lila.

The same grand piano in the Tapestry Gallery is believed to have been played by famed American pianist Van Cliburn when he visited Biltmore in the 1960s.

Although the Music Room was not finished during George Vanderbilt’s lifetime, there is a pianoforte or square piano there, made by Joseph Newman of Baltimore around 1835.

There was even a piano in the Banquet Hall’s Organ Loft in the early 1900s, according to Biltmore House employees at the time. Mattie Alexander Duke played it and sang regularly for the Vanderbilts and their guests. But it took until 1998 to finally install a pipe organ in the loft—a restored Skinner pipe organ dating from 1916.

With the 21st year of our Biltmore Concert Series kicking off July 27, music continues to play an important role on the estate. See our stellar line-up and join us for these outstanding performances.

While other members of the Vanderbilt family were recognized for their lavish parties or successes in the stock market, when it came to George Vanderbilt, the press instead focused on his love of learning and, more specifically, his preoccupation with reading.

A turn-of-the-century New York journalist wrote of the youngest Vanderbilt:

“He was a bookworm, a student… And his love of books came all from his own inner consciousness, for he was not graduated from any college, and his education, while not neglected, had not been carried beyond the ordinary limits of high schools, though now, I doubt not, he is one of the best read men in the country.”

Let’s take a look at a few items in the Biltmore House collection that speak to George Vanderbilt’s passions for reading and books.

Birthday Gift from Mama

For George Vanderbilt’s ninth birthday, his mother, Maria Louisa Vanderbilt, gave him three volumes from Reverend Elijah Kellogg, Jr.’s Elm Island Series and within each, she inscribed “George from Mama Nov. 14th 1871.” 

Thanks to this special gift set, we gleam that George was interested in reading at a young age.

Portrait by John Singer Sargent

As his interest turned to passion with age, George’s love of books became more prominent.

One example of this is his 1890 portrait by John Singer Sargent, one of the most celebrated society portraitists of his time. In it, George holds a book in his right hand.

The portrait hangs in the Tapestry Gallery, above the door leading into the Library.

Bust by Mary Grant

Another example of the prominence of this passion is a bust of George by Scottish artist Mary Grant.

Appropriately displayed in the Library, the bronze sculpture shows George Vanderbilt with his left elbow and right hand resting on a stack of two volumes.

This bust is one of four by Grant in the Biltmore House collection.

Biltmore House Bookplate

Designed by George Vanderbilt himself and engraved by Edwin Davis French, the Biltmore House bookplate is found in nearly all of the books in the Library.

The oil lamp motif featured in the center symbolizes the eternal quest for knowledge and enlightenment.

The surrounding Latin inscription, “Quaero Ex Libris Biltmoris,” may be translated, “Inquire in the books of Biltmore.”

“Books I Have Read”

Finally, the most definitive testament to George’s love of reading in the Biltmore House collection: his journal series titled “Books I Have Read.”

George began logging works and authors at the age of 12 and continued the habit until his death in 1914. 

He ultimately logged 3,159 books, which means he read an average of 81 books each year, or about a book and half per week.

The last entry was the third volume of Henry Adams’ History of the United States.

We invite you to join us as we celebrate George Vanderbilt’s love of reading with more than 40 award-winning movie costumes on display throughout America’s Largest Home®, accompanied by the original books in his 22,000-volume personal collection that inspired the films. 

Feature image: One of George Vanderbilt’s “Books I Have Read” journals opened to the 1,817th entry: Richard Carvel by Winston Churchill. Right above it is George’s note about daughter Cornelia’s birth on August 22, 1900.

After their visit to Biltmore in March 2016, Horizons fourth and fifth graders of Euchee Creek and South Columbia Elementary Schools in Columbia County, Georgia, created a book titled The Age of the Biltmore. The book includes impressive writing and illustrations by the inspired students.

As George Vanderbilt intended for his home to be an inviting and comfortable place to visit and study, we think he would be proud that students of all ages can still come to Biltmore to learn about the past and apply those lessons to their current courses.

We couldn't help but share the amazing work of these students. Here are some excerpts and illustrations from The Age of the Biltmore:

On Biltmore House

Biltmore has 250 Rooms, 65 fireplaces, and 34 bedrooms. The inside of the house has four acres of floor space, and the walls contain more than 11 million bricks.
– From “Richard Morris Hunt” by Wesley

The gardens were being designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, the man who designed Central Park in New York, and Richard Morris Hunt, the man who built the base of the Statue of Liberty, drew up the plans for the Biltmore.
– From “President Cleveland” by Utsab

The fate of George Vanderbilt’s visionary estate featuring Biltmore House set like a jewel amidst a breathtaking landscape might have been very different if Mr. Vanderbilt’s grandson William A.V. Cecil had not returned to Asheville to take on the management of America’s largest home and all that it entailed.

The white elephant

After Biltmore House was opened for public viewing in 1930, it became a well-known attraction in the southeast. By the late 50s, however, the numbers of visitors were dwindling and a decision had to be made: sell the property and turn what many considered a “white elephant” into a state or national historic trust—or find a way to preserve the estate and put it back on its feet financially.

Against most well-meaning advice, Mr. Cecil decided to leave his successful career with Chase-Manhattan Bank in Washington, DC and return to his birthplace to see what he could make of it. According to Howard Covington’s book Lady on the Hill,

“Cecil brought a fresh and appreciative perspective to Biltmore. He saw the chateau not with the eye of a curator hired to present and explain a historic property but as a devoted family member who was proud of what his grandfather had left for him and others to enjoy. Like his father before him, William believed that visitors should be made to feel like guests rather than ticket holders and should be welcomed warmly and treated with courtesy.”

Recovery begins

To attract the numbers of guests needed to make the venture successful, Mr. Cecil had to become a one-man marketing department to promote Biltmore House and Gardens to the public. He was more than equal to the challenge, and in the summer of 1960, Biltmore welcomed its one-millionth visitor since tickets were first made available 30 years earlier. The growth was important for the success of Biltmore, because the dairy operation that had sustained the estate for many years was becoming less profitable in the face of new regulations and increased competition.
 

The legacy continues

Now nearly six decades later, Biltmore welcomes more than one million guests annually, and the estate is a glowing tribute to George Vanderbilt’s original vision, the groundbreaking work of his grandson William Cecil, and the Cecil family’s continued commitment to their mission of preserving Biltmore as a privately owned, profitable, working estate. The property includes Antler Hill Village, which features the award-winning Winery and Antler Hill Farm; the four-star Inn on Biltmore Estate; Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate; Equestrian Center; numerous restaurants; event and meeting venues; and Biltmore For Your Home, the company’s licensed products division.

 

Featured image: William A.V. Cecil in front of Biltmore House, circa 1980s

Right: Cornelia and John Cecil open Biltmore House to the public in 1930

Left: William Cecil works discusses the possibilities of raising prawns at Biltmore, circa 1980s

Right:  William Cecil in the winery he envisioned, circa 1985

Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt, George and Edith Vanderbilt’s only child, was born in August 1900. And with her arrival, Biltmore Superintendent Chauncey Beadle soon found himself nurturing the young girl with the same tenderness and care with which he nurtured the flora of the estate.

A Little Girl's Garden

Before Cornelia was born, Beadle and Edith shared a mutual love of flowers. While travelling, Edith often wrote Beadle about the plants she had seen and admired, asking if they could be planted at Biltmore. Beadle would write Edith, asking her to name new varieties of flowers that he had developed.

After Cornelia was born, Beadle helped the young girl to cultivate that love as well. The pair spent much time together, exploring the outdoors and enjoying nature’s beauty. A trained botanist and horticulturalist, Beadle personally assisted Cornelia in planting and caring for her own flower garden.

While the exact location of Cornelia’s garden is unknown, it was most likely near one of the borders of the Walled Garden, if not closer to the house, according to Bill Alexander, Biltmore’s Landscape and Forest Historian.

Blooms Abroad

When Cornelia was travelling with her parents, Beadle wrote letters detailing her garden’s growth. He would also often include pressed flowers so that she could enjoy the colorful blooms. Here are excerpts from the charming letters Beadle wrote to Cornelia just before her sixth and seventh birthdays:

August 17, 1906 – To Cornelia in Paris, France: “I promised you just as you were leaving Biltmore to send you some pressed flowers from your garden, that you may see some of the results of the seeds we planted last spring. Almost all of the seeds grew and thrived and, in particular, I wish you could have seen some large double sunflowers as large as breakfast plates … They were so large that I could not press them and I fear that before your return they will have faded and gone. The little package which I am sending you, however, contains some of the smaller flowers that were easily pressed and, perhaps, before your home-coming, I can send you another lot so that you may be able to enjoy the garden even though you were in Europe…”

August 14, 1907 – To Cornelia at Point D' Acadie, the Vanderbilt’s home in Bar Harbor, Maine: “I have sent you by mail a package containing a number of pressed flowers from your garden which you painstakingly planted and watered. Very many of the plants have made a splendid showing… In the package you will find handsome Larkspurs of various shades and mottled colors… and several other flowers that were in blossom…. You will find the names of the flowers written on the inside of the sheets of paper which contain them, and I am very sure that you will soon know them all by name and will be able to recognize them wherever you may see them growing…”

A Continued Correspondence

George Vanderbilt passed away unexpectedly in 1914 and Edith began spending more time in Washington, DC, where Cornelia attended The Madeira School. Beadle continued corresponding with the pair through the years, bringing Edith up-to-date on estate business and describing the gardens in great detail so both ladies could enjoy them even when they were far from home.

Thanks to their mutual fondness of flowers, Edith and Cornelia Vanderbilt remained connected with Beadle through the superintendent’s retirement and beyond. Experience the beautiful blooms that were the basis for this bond, flowers lovely enough to be pressed, packaged, and shared. Visit Biltmore House & Gardens and see what’s blooming now.

Images
Featured: Portrait of Edith and Cornelia Vanderbilt, 1906
Right: Chauncey Beadle, 1906
Left: Cornelia Vanderbilt, 1906