[gentle classical music]
- Leslie Klingner: Biltmore was built by a man named
George Washington Vanderbilt.
The Vanderbilt family made their money in railroads
and in shipping.
And George was the youngest son of this family.
And so, he fell in love with this area, moved to Asheville,
started buying land, and then started constructing
his dream home.
[gentle classical music]
It took around six to seven years to construct,
and the house was opened officially in 1895.
George was a bachelor,
which is sort of hard to imagine given the size of the place.
It's about 250 rooms, 175,000 square feet.
A few years later, he met the love of his life, Edith.
They were married in 1898, and in 1900,
they had their first daughter.
So, really, Biltmore became a family home.
[gentle classical music]
- Cathy Barnhardt: To put Christmas together at Biltmore,
it takes us a year.
- Okay, just go slow.
Now, wait a minute here, let me adjust the figures.
- We'll put our plan together in December, and by July,
we're making the pieces
that are going into the various rooms
throughout the house and the rest of the estate.
There are 68 Christmas trees.
Each is hand decorated with carefully-chosen ornaments.
One tree in this room has 400 ornaments on it alone.
[Christmas piano music]
Each year, we do have a theme for Christmas,
although we stay within the look of the Gilded Age
and what might've been here in George Vanderbilt's home
at the turn of the century.
This year, the theme is "the art of Christmas."
[violin Christmas music]
In this breakfast room are two beautiful Renoir paintings.
One is the Algerian Girl
and the other is Boy with an Orange.
So, this tree has a very citrus feel to it.
Christmas isn't always a red and green Christmas.
All of these ornaments interpret the paintings.
These are hand-blown oranges, this lovely little lemon slice.
And then the citrus tones of these drops.
This piece on the table is easy to put together on your own.
It is a styrofoam cone in the center.
Citrus faux fruit wrapped in a pretty green ribbon
and then berries tucked in.
You can scale it to your table.
This is a pretty large table in the breakfast room
of Biltmore house.
We're in the morning salon.
It's a room where the ladies might come after breakfast
and just relax.
But one of my favorite paintings in the house
is this beautiful painting called The Waltz
by Anders Zorn.
And that was the inspiration for our decorations
in this room.
So, we have brought the swoop of the lady's dress
into the fabric that is draped on the tree.
So, we have these graceful swirls that convey
that sense of dance.
It's a family tree.
Children came to the parties in the evening,
and then they would be shuffled off to bed.
And then the dancing, the waltz would begin.
[mid-tempo classical music]
We're in George Vanderbilt's library.
This was his favorite room.
He was very scholarly, loved to read.
And inside the library alone, there are 20,000 books.
The rich texture of the ornaments,
I think, is really what creates this tree.
The tree decorations are inspired by the colors
of the book bindings,
the rich golds and burgundies and blues
in this room.
The library was probably a little bit of an escape
during the festivities of the holidays.
I have this vision of George Vanderbilt
and his dog Cedric snuggled up by the fire
with a good book.
[soft classical music] [fire crackling]
This room is the grand banquet hall.
And this is where George Vanderbilt celebrated Christmas
with his family and friends and his staff
that very first Christmas of 1895.
The rich red of the damask, the golds and silvers and blues
in the tapestries, all are brought into the decorations
of the room.
The Vanderbilts quite often would preside
over the festivities in the banquet hall
from a small table where they would chit-chat
with the families as they came up
and talked with them.
We also do have menu books from the 1890s on,
that talk about what was served for dinner.
And we see little scratched-out places
where George or Edith Vanderbilt would make their comments.
The towering tree was here in 1895,
decorated just as it is today with electric lights.
A lot of people had never even seen electric lights
on a Christmas tree.
I can imagine the staff coming in
and the children being given gifts
by George and Edith Vanderbilt.
The tradition carries on, and that is the root
of our Christmas celebration here at Biltmore.
[soft classical music]