Do the Vanderbilts still live at Biltmore?

Though the family stopped living in the mansion in the 1950s, it is still owned and run as a tourist attraction by the fourth generation of Vanderbilt descendants.



No, the Vanderbilt family has not lived in the Biltmore House since 1956. While the 8,000-acre estate remains a high-value, privately owned property, it is managed as a premier "open-air museum" and tourist attraction. The estate is still owned and operated by the descendants of George Washington Vanderbilt II (the Cecil family), who maintain a high-quality standard of preservation. In 2026, the house serves as an American icon of the Gilded Age, with the family living in private residences elsewhere on the grounds or in the Asheville area, ensuring the main 250-room French Renaissance chateau remains fully accessible to the high-intensity flow of visitors.

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Today, Biltmore is still family owned and operated under George Vanderbilt's mission of preservation through self-sufficiency – a philosophy embraced before the first stone was ever placed.

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Branches of the family are found on the United States East Coast. Contemporary descendants include American art historian John Wilmerding, journalist Anderson Cooper, actor Timothy Olyphant, musician John P. Hammond, screenwriter James Vanderbilt, and the Duke of Marlborough.

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Consuelo's children, John Albert Edward William Spencer-Churchill and Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill share a common ancestor with Princess Diana; his name was James Hamilton, Duke of Abercorn. The Duke of Abercorn was their great-grandfather and is Prince William's 4th great-grandfather.

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Why Is Biltmore So Expensive? The ticket price is you paying for the HUGE amount of maintenance, restoration, and staff that it takes to run the estate, along with all the various activities that there are to do around the estate. It's not JUST to see the house and grounds.

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Around 1932, reportedly finding life at Biltmore too dull, she moved to New York City to briefly study art, leaving her husband to manage Biltmore.

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ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) – Tax appraisers in North Carolina have put a price tag on the iconic Biltmore House, the land it sits on and related development: nearly $300 million.

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As for the Biltmore Company itself, it's not concerned with value, said Kathleen Mosher, director of communications. It doesn't sell property. “As a national historic landmark, we're in the business of preserving things for generations, so it's not something that is our focus, she said.

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Consuelo Vanderbilt is the third of her name — her great great grandmother and great great great aunt were both Consuelo Vanderbilts — and is the third cousin, twice removed, of Anderson Cooper, the CNN journalist.

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Staffing America's Largest Home In the days when George, Edith, and Cornelia Vanderbilt resided at Biltmore, they employed up to 40 staff members who each played a crucial role in the day-to-day operations of the house and stable.

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