Bowman-Biltmore Hotels was a hotel chain created by the hotel magnate John McEntee Bowman .
22-608: The name evokes the Vanderbilt family 's Biltmore Estate , whose buildings and the gardens within are privately owned historical landmarks and tourist attractions in Asheville, North Carolina , United States. The name has since been adopted by other unrelated hotels. For a time, the Bowman-Biltmore Hotels Corporation was a publicly traded company. A Detroit Biltmore was planned for the site of
44-604: A flight from California chartered by Greenbach. The Tahoe Biltmore , a hotel-casino, operated from 1948 to 2022 in Crystal Bay, Nevada . It is expected to be demolished in 2025, with a Waldorf Astoria hotel taking its place in 2028. The Oklahoma Biltmore in Oklahoma City was an unassociated hotel that once stood downtown, at 228 West Grand Avenue. It was built in 1932 during the Great Depression by
66-530: A single boat, he grew his fleet until he was competing with Robert Fulton for dominance of the New York waterways, his energy and eagerness earning him the nickname "Commodore", a United States Navy title for a captain of a small task force. Fulton's company had established a monopoly on trade in and out of New York Harbor . Vanderbilt, based in New Jersey at the time, flouted the law, steaming in and out of
88-711: Is an American family who gained prominence during the Gilded Age . Their success began with the shipping and railroad empires of Cornelius Vanderbilt , and the family expanded into various other areas of industry and philanthropy. Cornelius Vanderbilt's descendants went on to build grand mansions on Fifth Avenue in New York City ; luxurious "summer cottages" in Newport , Rhode Island; the palatial Biltmore House in Asheville , North Carolina; and various other opulent homes . The family also built Berkshire cottages in
110-571: Is the largest house in the United States . While some of Cornelius Vanderbilt's descendants gained fame in business, others achieved prominence in other ways: In 1855, Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt donated 45 acres (18 ha) of property to the Moravian Church and Cemetery at New Dorp on Staten Island , New York. Later, his son William Henry Vanderbilt donated a further 4 acres (1.6 ha). The Vanderbilt Family Mausoleum
132-771: The Duke of Marlborough James Spencer-Churchill . The progenitor of the Vanderbilt family was Jan Aertszoon or Aertson (1620–1705), a Dutch farmer from the village of De Bilt in Utrecht , Netherlands , who emigrated to the Dutch colony of New Netherland as an indentured servant to the Van Kouwenhoven family in 1650. The name of Jan's village, in the genitive case , was added to the Dutch " van " ("from") to create " Van der Bilt ", which evolved into "Vanderbilt" when
154-663: The Hotel Tuller on Detroit's Grand Circus Park . The Tuller was to have been demolished in 1929 and replaced by a towering 35-story, 1500 room hotel with an attached 14-story garage and 18-story office building. The plans were abandoned when the stock market crashed that year. The Palm Beach Biltmore was not connected to the Bowman Biltmore group. It was built in 1926 as the Alba, renamed The Ambassador in 1929, and sold to Henry L. Doherty in 1933. Doherty, who had bought
176-497: The Moravian Church to his death. The Vanderbilt family lived on Staten Island until the mid-1800s, when the Commodore built a house on Washington Place (in what is now Greenwich Village ). Although he always occupied a relatively modest home, members of his family would use their wealth to build magnificent mansions . Shortly before his death in 1877, Vanderbilt donated US$ 1 million (equivalent to $ 29 million in 2023) for
198-552: The English took control of New Amsterdam (now Manhattan ). The family is associated with the Dutch patrician Van der Bilt. His great-great-great-grandson, Cornelius Vanderbilt , began the rise of the Vanderbilt dynasty. He was the fourth of nine children born into a Staten Island family of modest means. Through his paternal great-great grandmother, Abigail Southard, he descends from Republic of Salé President Jan Janszoon and his son Anthony Janszoon van Salee . They were among
220-595: The Hyatt Regency. Permits were filed for an eight-story hotel in March 1953, with groundbreaking taking place in November of that year. Joseph Greenbach constructed the building, which opened on February 19, 1955. Construction cost $ 4 million. The hotel was built on the site of Canlis Charcoal Broiler, the first restaurant opened by Peter Canlis, which opened in 1947. The opening was met with great fanfare, including
242-557: The Miami Biltmore two years earlier, renamed the hotel the Palm Beach Biltmore. It was later owned by Hilton Hotels , closed in the 1970s, and was converted to condos from 1979 to 1981. The Waikiki Biltmore was a resort hotel on Waikiki , Honolulu , Hawaii , that operated from 1955 to 1974. The Biltmore was the first high-rise hotel on Waikiki but operated for only 19 years and was demolished and replaced with
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#1732787401542264-521: The Vanderbilt fortune. He built the first of what would become many grand Vanderbilt mansions on Fifth Avenue , at 640 Fifth Avenue. William Henry appointed his first son, Cornelius Vanderbilt II , as the next "Head of House". Cornelius II built the largest private home in New York, at 1 West 57th Street , containing approximately 154 rooms, designed by George B. Post . He also built The Breakers in Newport , Rhode Island. Cornelius II's brother, William Kissam Vanderbilt , also featured prominently in
286-521: The city's prominent civic leaders at the time, headed by Charles F. Colcord . Designed by architects Hawk & Parr , the Biltmore had 619 rooms and was 24 stories high, making it the state's second tallest building only to the Ramsey Tower built in 1931, when it was completed. In 1936 alone, the Biltmore was headquarters for 104 conventions and saw 114,171 guests. After a $ 3 million renovation in
308-479: The earliest arrivals to 17th-century New Amsterdam . In a number of documents dating back to that period, Anthony is described as tawny, as his mother was of Berber origin from Cartagena in the Kingdom of Murcia . Cornelius Vanderbilt left school at age 11 and went on to build a shipping and railroad empire that, during the 19th century, would make him one of the wealthiest men in the world. Starting with
330-537: The establishment of Vanderbilt University in Nashville . The Commodore left the majority of his enormous fortune to his eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt . William Henry, who outlived his father by just eight years, increased the profitability of his father's holdings, increased the reach of the New York Central Railroad , and doubled the Vanderbilt wealth. He was the only heir to increase
352-749: The family's affairs. He also built a home on Fifth Avenue and would become one of the great architectural patrons of the Gilded Age , hiring the architects for (the third, and surviving) Grand Central Terminal . He also built Marble House at 596 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. George Washington Vanderbilt II , the 3rd and youngest son of William Henry Vanderbilt and youngest brother of Cornelius II, hired architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to construct Biltmore Estate on 125,000 acres (51,000 ha) near Asheville , North Carolina. The 250 room mansion, with 175,856 sq ft (16,337.6 m ) of floor space,
374-548: The harbor under a flag that read, "New Jersey Must Be Free!" He also hired the attorney Daniel Webster to argue his case before the United States Supreme Court ; Vanderbilt won, thereby establishing an early precedent for the United States' first laws of interstate commerce . While many Vanderbilt family members had joined the Episcopal Church , Cornelius Vanderbilt remained a member of
396-399: The largest demolitions in the country at the time it was blown up on October 16, 1977 by a team of demolition specialists to make way for the "Myriad Gardens". Hundreds of low-yield explosives were planted throughout the building so that it would collapse and fall inward into an acceptable area only slightly larger than the hotel's foundation. Vanderbilt family The Vanderbilt family
418-578: The mid-1960s the Biltmore was renamed the Sheraton-Oklahoma Hotel. By 1973, the hotel had left Sheraton, and the Oklahoma City Urban Renewal Authority agreed with the owners that the Biltmore had outlived its useful life. In contrast, architect I. M. Pei had envisioned keeping the hotel, and his sketches and models all showed the tower overlooking the surrounding "Tivoli Gardens". The hotel was one of
440-650: The mid-20th century, when the family's 10 great Fifth Avenue mansions were torn down, and most other Vanderbilt houses were sold or turned into museums in what has been referred to as the "Fall of the House of Vanderbilt". Branches of the family are found on the United States East Coast . Contemporary descendants include American art historian John Wilmerding , journalist Anderson Cooper (son of Gloria Vanderbilt ), actor Timothy Olyphant , musician John P. Hammond , screenwriter James Vanderbilt , and
462-423: The western region of Massachusetts; examples include Elm Court (Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts) . The Vanderbilts were once the wealthiest family in the United States. Cornelius Vanderbilt was the richest American until his death in 1877. After that, his son William Henry Vanderbilt acquired his father's fortune, and was the richest American until his death in 1885. The Vanderbilts' prominence lasted until
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#1732787401542484-511: Was designed in 1885 by architect Richard Morris Hunt and landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted . The following is a list of figures closely aligned with or subordinate to the Vanderbilt family. The following is a list of companies in which the Vanderbilt family have held a controlling or otherwise significant interest. Berkshire Cottages America's Gilded Age , the post- Civil War and post- Reconstruction era, from 1865 to 1901 saw unprecedented economic and industrial prosperity. As
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