Merely running America's largest home - a 1890s French Renaissance-style, 250-room chateau in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina - wasn't enough.
Over the past 50 years or so, those trusted with George Vanderbilt's palatial Biltmore Estate have added a winery, a luxury hotel, five restaurants, a dozen shops and a network of retailers that sell their collection of home and garden products. Biltmore is now a successful national brand, a private company with $130 million in annual revenue and growing sales.
'What's fun is that we haven't always promoted ourselves,' said Jerry Douglas, senior vice president of marketing and sales at The Biltmore Company. 'Over the years, the Biltmore name and all things associated with Biltmore have become more recognized.'
At the same time, the estate welcomed more than 1 million visitors in 2006 for the first time in its history. That's quite a feat, especially at a time when historic homes nationwide are being shuttered and even sold after neglect by their owners and wear from tourist visits.
Preservationists say the upkeep of some of America's most prestigious houses has become an expensive chore. To help with the costs of cost of repairs, maintenance and staffing, several are being offered up for private purchase, including Colonial Williamsburg's Carter's Grove.
But by building a brand, Biltmore is different. Along with making the estate a tourist spot, Biltmore developed its own food, home decor, furnishings, plants and building products, and sells them at its gift shops and through 3,000 retail locations.
All of it ties to the estate and the elegant lifestyle of a family once among the wealthiest in the world.
'It's nice how you can take a part of your visit home with you,' said Pat Peacher of Clarksville, Tenn., who recently visited the estate with her family and left with a portrait of the Biltmore, Christmas ornaments, some dip mixes and a blackberry drink mix.
The shops also sell Biltmore-inspired cookware, china, cookbooks, and books and DVDs cataloguing historical events.
'They started with an asset and then the question became what do they need to do with it,' said J. Myrick Howard, president of Preservation North Carolina. 'They have been extremely remarkable in achieving what they've done.'
Once a self-sufficient 125,000-acre estate, Biltmore opened Christmas Eve in 1895 as the private residence of George and Edith Vanderbilt. Then, its farms yielded fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy products. The forest produced firewood and a 300-acre nursery offered plants for sale.
But after George Vanderbilt's death in 1914, Edith sold a majority of the estate's land and a couple of the Biltmore's businesses. Edith later remarried and moved on, but the Vanderbilt's daughter, Cornelia - who had married John Francis Amherst Cecil - continued to live at Biltmore.
Today, Vanderbilt's grandson, William A.V. Cecil, owns Biltmore Estate. His son, William A.V. Cecil Jr., is the estate's chief executive.
In 1930, the Cecil family opened Biltmore House to the public. The house closed during World War II, but reopened in 1945. By 1960, the estate was a bit lackluster, and Cecil Sr. left a banking career in New York City to join his brother in managing Biltmore, which the two men had inherited.
Cecil Sr. started restoring the house, which the family stopped using as a private residence in 1958, and maintained its public tours, while looking at the same time to diversify the business.
During the oil crisis of the 1970s, Cecil Sr. worried the business - which started turning a profit in 1968 - would suffer as tourists decided they couldn't drive to the estate.
And so, by 1979, he had remodeled the estate's dairy barn for use as one of the state's first modern wineries. Now, Biltmore's very own Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Syrah - among other varieties - is sold in 12 states and the District of Columbia.
The Biltmore Company has also gotten into the lodging business, opening the high-end Inn on Biltmore Estate in 2001, with 213 rooms designed to resemble the Biltmore House.
And last year, the Cottage on Biltmore Estate was opened to anyone interested in a more private, luxurious experience. Originally the 1896 residence of the Biltmore Estate gardener, the Cottage houses up to four adults and includes a personal chef, a butler and admission to the estate. The cost: $2,800 a night.
As the company evolves, customers seem to be following it right along. In the 2006 fiscal year, ticket sales at the estate were up 8 percent, revenue at the inn jumped 12 percent and the wine company increased revenue by 24 percent.
'Biltmore For Your Home' brands also doubled their revenue, building on partnerships with companies such as Anderson Hardwood Floors, Belk and Magnussen Home.
Industry experts believe the company and its lines can continue their growth.
'The beauty of the Biltmore is that all their products and distribution channels make sense,' said Jim Dettore, president and chief executive of Brand Institute Inc., a brand identity consulting firm in Miami. 'You can continue to extend the brand out just as long as the initial brand plays a part in the new brand.'
Howard agreed, adding, 'There's a line that you could certainly go over, like if they started selling Biltmore trinkets made in China. They haven't gone over that line.'
Biltmore leaders don't plan to.
'As long as we are family owned, I don't see us getting too big and losing sense of our original purpose,' Douglas said. 'There's a place for us in a lot more places where we're not.
'Thirty years ago you would have thought all this was impossible. Today, we're thinking of what's next.'
Biltmore Estate: http://www.biltmore.com
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