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9 reviews for:
Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon
The Biltmore Company, Howard E. Covington
3.86 AVERAGE
9 reviews for:
Lady on the Hill: How Biltmore Estate Became an American Icon
The Biltmore Company, Howard E. Covington
3.86 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
Good overview and history of the Biltmore Estate, not only its inception and construction, but it’s transformation and endurance as a major tourist attraction. You’ll learn a few fun behind the scenes stories and more about the Vanderbilt family.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this book was the sustained and repeated argument that private preservation is better than government-directed. This may be true in Bilmtore’s case, but it’s certainly not true for every historic home, and the insistence on this fact was distracting to the book’s intended purpose.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy about this book was the sustained and repeated argument that private preservation is better than government-directed. This may be true in Bilmtore’s case, but it’s certainly not true for every historic home, and the insistence on this fact was distracting to the book’s intended purpose.
This wasn't as compelling at The Last Castle but it was good information about Biltmore. It was a pretty good book about converting an historic home into a tourist attraction by William Cecil. I mean, this book is really about Cecil entirely.
informative
medium-paced
The thing I really like about this book is that it gives you details about the Biltmore history that aren't necessarily told at the actual house. The book gives you the real story of financial struggle and details of how each family member dealt with this massive responsibility. Whereas, at the home itself, it feels like they are selling more of an image of what the home was meant to be without telling you details that may look negative on the family - such as Cornelia Vanderbilt and John Cecil getting divorced and Cornelia wanting to sell Biltmore; after the divorce she moved to Europe for many years while John Cecil lived at and managed Biltmore.
All in all, it is an interesting story for anyone interested in these details about the family and house history.
All in all, it is an interesting story for anyone interested in these details about the family and house history.
I was interested in learning about the history of the house in the 1940-1960 period. The book provides some good information but was clearly written as propaganda. I can't count the number of times the author talked about how special the Cecils were/are.
This was given to me as a gift from my father who visited Biltmore during a trip he took to North Carolina. I will say that I originally planned on giving this book a three-star rating, and when I first received the book as a gift I wasn't sure what to expect because of how different it is than my preferred genre of reading. In the end, I decided to push aside my personal bias and rate this book based on my opinion of its merit, as opposed to my personal interest. I did not expect that parts of this book would interest me or amuse me. One particular story contained in the text that I enjoyed was the . Some of the stories intrigued me more than others, but I found the inclusion of pictures was always helpful in enhancing my reading experience. The major complaint I have about this book is that it tends to drag, and that was the main reason I originally planned to give this book three stars. I changed my mind because I think it is a good read for anyone interested in history or the process of preservation. This is a historical text, so I expected to lose interest at some points, but the inclusion of dialogue from people who helped restore Biltmore plus the occasionally amusing anecdote made some portions read like a regular novel. The only other problems I had with this book included the fact that some parts felt repetitive due to skipping around in time to focus on different events, plus I found the description of some rooms hard to imagine without the aid of images of the estate's interior. I understand this is probably because the Biltmore experience is intended to remain within the walls of the estate and not the pages of a book, but I still would have enjoyed seeing more images of the art mentioned in the text. Overall, this wasn't a terrible read and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a historical text on preservation and restoration.
Spoiler
recounting of the time when John Cecil served what he thought to be wine at a party, but it turned out to be water from the Jordan River
informative
fast-paced
Biltmore buffs will no doubt enjoy this detailed story of how George Vanderbilt's great estate has managed to survive as a privately owned historic house museum for the past 80-odd years. Downton Abbey fans will likely have some familiarity with the challenges of keeping a massive estate afloat; the fact that Biltmore has survived (and thrived) is indeed a testament to the tenacity and business savvy of William Cecil, and this book demonstrates that quite clearly. An interesting read for those who love Biltmore and want to learn more about the history of the house itself; those who are more interested in the lives of the Vanderbilts may find their curiosity piqued here, as I did, and want to look into some biographies that expand on some of the questions raised by this account (e.g. why did Cornelia and John Cecil divorce? Why did Cornelia never return to Biltmore?). I highly recommend perusing the Images of America: Biltmore Estate book alongside your reading of this text. There are a few images included in this volume, but the ones in Images of America: Biltmore Estate are much more numerous and give a great visual context for many of the things the author mentions here.