Biltmore House, Asheville, North Carolina
Posted by: 
hykesj
N 35° 32.457 W 082° 33.143
17S E 359274 N 3934143
With over 175,000 sq. ft. of floor space, Biltmore House is the largest privately owned residence in the United States.
Waymark Code: WMWJ8K
Location: North Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 09/10/2017
Views: 7
The stamp, issued in 1981, was part of a multi-year series commemorating American architecture. This particular stamp honors Gilded Age architect Richard Morris Hunt and features one of his most notable designs: the Biltmore mansion in North Carolina. Besides Biltmore, Richard M. Hunt is also known for the façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
In the latter part of the nineteenth century, Richard Morris Hunt was quite busy designing mansions for the Vanderbilt family. William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, commissioned Hunt to design his “summer cottage” at Newport, RI called “Marble House.” Around this same time, William’s younger brother George Washington Vanderbilt commissioned Hunt to design his summer home (Biltmore) on some 125,000 acres of land he purchased near Asheville, NC. Not to be outdone by his younger siblings, Cornelius Vanderbilt II commissioned Hunt to design his Newport mansion called “The Breakers.” All three of these houses are still standing and are open to the public.
Located just outside the city of Asheville, Biltmore House is situated against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is surrounded by gardens and other landscaping designed by noted landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Designed in the style of a French Renaissance château, the resulting 250 room structure is bristling with architectural details. These include steeply pitched roofs, turrets, open loggia and a lot of sculptural ornamentation such as gargoyles and other grotesques.
Though still in the possession of the Vanderbilt family, the Biltmore Estate has been open for public tours since 1930. Today the estate covers about 7000 acres and in addition to the house and gardens, contains a winery, several hotels, a small village with specialty shops, horseback riding trails and a number of other activities. Of note to philatelists, the portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted by John Singer Sargent that was used for the 1999 Frederick Law Olmsted postage stamp is usually on display somewhere on the premises.
Stamp Issuing Country: United States
Date of Issue: 28-Aug-1981
Denomination: 18 cents
Color: black and red
Stamp Type: Single Stamp
Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]
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