Asheville Biltmore Estate#

Asheville Biltmore Estate, June 2013, © Ewald Judt, under CC BY 4.0

Biltmore Estate 1 Approach Rd, Asheville, NC 28803, USA is a 8,000 acre private estate and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina. The Estate was built between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 sq ft (16,622.8 sq m) of floor space, 135,280 sq ft (12,568 sq m) of which are living area. The Châteauesque-styled mansion was built by George Washington Vanderbilt II and is still owned by one of Vanderbilt's descendants. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, the mansion has four acres of floor space and a total of 250 rooms, including 33 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, three kitchens and 19-century novelties such as electric elevators, forced-air heating, fire alarms and an intercom system. It also features a big library that contains over 10,000 volumes in eight languages, a 1916 Skinner pipe organ, a portrait gallery and an observatory.