Why The Biltmore Estate, America’s Largest Privately Owned Home, Is an Ideal Fall Escape | Vogue

"America’s largest privately owned home sits between the idyllic mountains of Asheville, a chateau-esque mansion fronted by perfectly manicured lawn and lined trees, with an intricate garden by Frederick Law Olmsted to one side and robins as the only neighbors. Preserved by five generations of the Vanderbilts, it still radiates historical magic—“a phenomenal place not only to get away from the day-to-day of today but to transport oneself back into time,” as the estate’s curator puts it—easy to imagine Edith Wharton, a frequent visitor, strolling the gardens under the “Ionian sky” she described or choosing a book from the Library’s 10,000 volumes. Run today as a museum, visitors can view the family’s art and furniture nearly fully intact. Commissioned by George Vanderbilt III from architect Richard Morris Hunt in 1889 and completed in 1895, the estate’s nucleus spans roughly four acres with 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, and three kitchens, plus a basement bowling alley and swimming pool; remarkably, it once housed only George, his glamorous wife Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt, and their daughter, Cornelia. For anyone not ready to jump back into bustling, pre-quarantine life, its glamorous setting and tree-filled surrounds make an ideal escape." - Isiah Magsino