downtown asheville the biltmore company in asheville north carolina owns and operates 8 000 acres 32 km of land and business . in 1999 the company formed a new business group the biltmore estate brands group . currently the biltmore estate home furnishings licensees include carolina mirror directional publishing as you like it craftique imperial home decor group oriental accent southern living house plans tai ping paragon picture gallery and sadek import company ndi kravet fabrics great city traders keller charles inc. manual woodworkers and weavers and executive kitchens inc. the biltmore company owned by the family of william amherst vanderbilt cecil includes biltmore estate biltmore estate wine company and biltmore estate reproductions . in 2001 the inn on biltmore estate opened on the estate and currently has 210 guest rooms . it is rated four stars by mobil travel guide and four diamonds by aaa . the biltmore company traces its origins back to 1895 when george washington vanderbilt ii first opened the vanderbilt estate . this six year project was a grand production with grounds designed by landscaper frederick law olmsted and the house designed by richard morris hunt . 1 the biltmore company is and always has been family owned and operated with a goal of supporting and maintaining the estate and various industries affiliated with the estate . in 1889 george vanderbilt and wife edith vanderbilt expanded the biltmore company by purchasing a nearby town renamed biltmore village . this is where employees of the estate resided . additionally the couple created and funded the biltmore estate industries which developed a system of teaching traditional craft making . however after george s death both biltmore village and biltmore estate industries were sold in an effort to keep focus on the estate itself . 2 george and edith vanderbilt were very environmentally conscious and they sold over 86 000 acres of the surrounding land to the government to create the pisgah national forest . the biltmore company still values the importance of forest preservation and utilizes techniques to ensure preservation of the soil water wildlife and forest of the area . 3 today the biltmore company is still run by the descendants of george vanderbilt ; the president and ceo is currently william cecil . 4 the biltmore company employs over 2 400 people who maintain the 8 000 acres of the biltmore estate hotel winery restaurants and shops . 4 the biltmore house is the largest privately owned home in the united states . the company claims to host more than one million guests per year ; the biltmore company functions solely through private funding . 4 see also edit biltmore farms biltmore forest school references edit estate history . biltmore.com . retrieved 2013 10 25 . life and history at biltmore estate . theblueridgehighlander.com . retrieved 2013 10 25 . biltmore s lasting legacy of forestry . roadtrekin.com . retrieved 2013 10 25 . a b c the biltmore company company information . hoover s. retrieved 2013 10 25 . external links edit biltmore estate retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the biltmore company & oldid 731063135 categories companies based in asheville north carolinavanderbilt family navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 22 july 2016 at 18 13 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view