Biltmore Estate: Views of the Front (page 3 of 7 pages)

Richard Morris Hunt
Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape architect
1895



The front facade (east)

The main features of the front exterior are the colonnade, the stair tower and the glass-roofed Winter Garden.
 
Glass-roofed interior gardens were popular in Victorian England. This Winter Garden had palm trees, bamboo furniture, and a central fountain sculpture by Karl Bitter.
 

The stair tower

The stair tower was influenced by that of the Château de Blois in France, although they spiral in opposite directions.
 
The Vienna-born American sculptor Karl Theodore Francis Bitter (1867-1915) executed numerous sculptures in and on the house, including statues of St. Louis and Joan of Arc on the exterior of the stair tower.
 

The colonnade (far south of the east front)

 

Decorative columns in the colonnade

Grotesque figures occupy the capitals


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© 2002 Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.

Page created by Mary Ann Sullivan