The Biltmore Estate

The historic Biltmore Estate, recognized as America's oldest estate, was originally designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead for George Vanderbilt in the late 1800s. Forty years later, the estate was opened to the public to encourage tourism to the Asheville, NC area. In 1996, The Biltmore Company decided to build an inn that would evoke the original experience of staying at Biltmore Estate, giving visitors a seamless experience of this national historic landmark while augmenting the estate's revenues. Design Workshop was retained as the landscape architects and land planners for the 224-room hotel, now known as the Inn on Biltmore Estate. This hotel is the first of several properties servicing various components of the visitor market. The firm's role was to develop a site plan and garden design for the hotel and to assist the Biltmore Company in ensuring that all improvements respect the integrity of the original work by Hunt and Olmstead.

At the conclusion of the planning and design for the Inn, Design Workshop was retained once again – this time to develop a tourism plan for the estate's future. With over one million visitors per year, the historic Biltmore property was challenged to take advantage of an enormous economic opportunity while maintaining the integrity of the historic property. The tourism master plan addressed the potential for additional tourism facilities and venues for interpretation of a variety of themes not addressed by the current visitation program. In addition, the master plan examined transportation issues on the extensive road network of the estate. The challenge of this effort was to maintain the integrity of Olmsted's original design while accommodating automobiles and buses that were not present when Mr. Vanderbilt originally constructed the Estate in 1895.

Today, Design Workshop is once again working with The Biltmore Company to provide design services for the creation of the Antler Hill Winery Village, a pedestrian oriented village that continues the Biltmore's mission to expand upon and share its history and legacy.