What do you get when you cross a 19^th Century railroad baron and the French Renaissance? Apparently, you get the largest private home in the United States, The Biltmore. We don’t know if the name was intended to be punny or not, but they certainly did build more. The house covers about four acres of floor space. Not the property, mind you (that covers more like 8,000 acres), but the house itself. I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I don’t pay the homeowners insurance premiums on that place.

The Biltmore was constructed over a period of six years during the late 1800s. In order to build it, the Vanderbilt family employed an entire community of contractors. A railway line was run right to the property, and sawmills, lumber yards, brick factory, and woodworking shop were constructed right on the grounds.

The house is located near Asheville, North Carolina, and is still owned by descendants of the Vanderbilt family. These days, you can stay the night there. It’s certainly worth doing if you’re willing to pay for a 4 star hotel in North Carolina. The Inn, as the part where you’d be staying is known, has a number of unique features, including guided tours of the expansive estate.

So, how much house can you build in 4 acres? Apparently, 250 rooms in all, including 34 bedrooms, 65 fireplaces, 43 bathrooms, an indoor swimming pool, a gymnasium, a bowling alley, servant’s quarters, changing rooms, and rooms whose exact purpose no one really knows.

Believe it or not, the Vanderbilt family actually lived in the house. George Vanderbilt, who had the house built, moved his new wife in shortly after their Parisian wedding, and the couple raised their only child at Biltmore.

While I’m sure homeowners insurance premiums were not a big deal for a family like the Vanderbilt clan, it makes you wonder how they ever managed to find each other in that huge place. It must have been great for kids. Can you imagine the hide and seek games when little Miss Vanderbilt had her friends over?

Believe it or not, the Biltmore estate, whose architecture was designed to resemble a 16^th century French chateaux, was built in a very environmentally conscious way (for the time). Much of the estate is reclaimed forest, having been farmland previously. The estate, in fact, boasts the country’s first managed forest, in addition to numerous gardens.

Photo via Kamoteus (A Better Way)