The Biltmore 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/biltmoregustavbaOOhubb 
 
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 THE B I L 
 
 T M O R E 
 
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift <>i Si vmoi r B. Di rsi Old York Lihrary 
 
GUSTAV BAUMANM 
 
 President 
 
 JOHM McE. BOWMAN 
 
 Vice-President 
 
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A LITTLE JOURNEY TO THE BILTMORE 
 
 £y ELBERT HUBBARD 
 
 1 'VE BEEN to a hotel. (H.I thought I had seen hotels 
 
 I before, but no\tf I know* I hadn't. 
 ^The Biltmore, in New York City\ is a hotel that is 
 individual, distinct, peculiar, unique and unforgetable. 
 
 1 I have onh? one criticism to make concerning it, and 
 
 that is, it exhausts m$ stock of adjectives. Usually 
 you describe a thing h$ saying it is like something 
 else, but this time comparisons are of no avail, words 
 falter and language reaches its limit. 
 
 Usually, when we think of a big hotel, we think 
 of a place of hustle and bustle, where crowds congre- 
 gate, butlers butt for baggage, porters call trains, clerks 
 clang bells, bellhops hop, and an orchestra bangs out 
 the "Miserere." 
 
 In first-class hotels there are dazzling chandeliers, gaud^y) 
 pictures, mouldings made in imitation of classic carvings, 
 overhanging balconies, and ceilings bespangled with painted 
 extravagance everywhere writ large. You think of the phrase 
 of Ralph Waldo nmerson : "The riot of the senses to be found 
 in our first-class hotels." I would not apph? such a cheap 
 phrase as "first-class" to ( The Biltmore — it is more than that, 
 it is ^The Biltmore. 
 
'T'HE BILTMORE tokens a ne\C time. (H.The opening of tKis 
 hotel is an epoch. (H.We are living in a new* age and if you 
 want to realize this fact just visit this wonderful hostelry. 
 
 If you arrive from New* England or upon the New* York Central 
 lines, the ease with which you can go to Qlie Biltmore will be the first 
 thing that gives you a thrill of delight. You eliminate cab drivers, 
 taxis, guides, and the slogan, "Safety First," is superfluous. You cross 
 no streets, run into no congestions of traffic. 
 
 When you alight from your train at the Grand Central Station, 
 you hand your bag to a Red Cap and say, "OKe Biltmore." In 
 about half a second you are deposited in a luxurious elevator, and in 
 what seems to be half a second more the elevator stops, and you are 
 
 in the office of ^The Biltmore. 
 
 How did you get here? It is one 
 of the modern mysteries. 
 
 If you come to Kiev? York by* other 
 routes than those named, the location 
 of t The Biltmore is so central that you 
 are but a few moments from station 
 or ferry. Traveling on a railroad train 
 will some day* be a thing of the past; 
 the}) will put us in a lovely little 
 stateroom in a pneumatic tube, and 
 somebody will press a button and 
 before you can read your magazine 
 your journey* will be completed. 
 
 So you step into an elevator 
 at the Grand Central and the 
 elevator goes up and you do not 
 realize when it stops and ceases 
 to travel perpendicular and begins 
 to travel horizontally. 
 
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LJERE is where your senses plaj) you false, and as for myself, I 
 haven't worked it out yet; I onl}) know" that I said "Biltmore" to 
 a bright-faced, dark-complexioned lad and he put me in an elevator 
 and I arrived in the office o fOtie Bilt more. 
 
 There was no fighting for nvp baggage, no anxiety), no jostling. At 
 the office of OTie Biltmore there was no crowding around the desk, 
 because one clerk does not wear his nerves to a frazzle trying to take care 
 of all the guests ; you can register at one of several places. The office is 
 beautiful through its absence of gilt, gold, glare and gaudy fussiness. 
 
 Brass buttons were not the most prominent feature on the raiment 
 of the bellboys. The clerk wore no diamond pin; I really^ do 
 not remember how he looked — he faded into the landscape like a 
 brown thrush in the autumn foliage. 
 
 The lights of the corridors and office were soft, w'arm, evenly 
 distributed and that's another thing I didn't know and don't 
 know yet — is where that light came from. And I found this 
 wonderful lighting was in all of the rooms, in the hallways and 
 even in the elevators. 
 
 This country is certainly passing out of the pioneer stage — the 
 stage of hustle and bustle, rush and crush, ram and jam. 
 
 (The Bilt more is so arranged that there is no congestion 
 or crowding in any of the hallways, elevators, restaurant, 
 palm court, grill rooms, cafes or buffets. 
 Here is revealed the genius of the , i 
 
 architects, Warren & Wetmore, who 
 
 have designed many 
 of the structural 
 wonders of New 
 York, and they 
 have fairly surpassed 
 themselves in The 
 Biltmore. 
 
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j WAS told tkat there were in the hotel when I was there over 
 three thousand people, but I ran into no crowd. The whole place is 
 noise-proof and dustproof. It is run on rubber tires with ball bearings. 
 
 ^The Biltmore is perfectly ventilated, the air in every room and 
 hall being replenished every few moments, and this without the open- 
 ing of windows. The air that comes into your room is washed as if 
 by a summer shower, warmed or cooled to a certain temperature 
 before it is sent on its journey", and no matter what the weather is 
 outside, here it is always May"-time. 
 
 The great room called the restaurant, the gentlemen's cafe, the 
 grill room and peace-impelling lounge are all outside rooms, w^here 
 the light from the out-of-doors enters, and this is true of ever? one of the 
 thousand rooms in the house. 
 
 Electricity" has never been used so thoroughly as it has in this 
 building, so I am told by one of the great engineers of the \v>orld. 
 We speak of a building being wired for electric lights, but here is 
 the only" building in the world that is completely" wired for service. 
 
 There is in the office of the hotel 
 an arrangement which shows when a 
 servant is at work in any" room. And 
 it is a rule of the hotel that a guest is 
 never sent to a room when one of the 
 servants is there. This is arranged by" 
 a little system of flashlights. 
 
I ^HERE is tKe tel-autograpK system, wkick conveys written 
 messages from one part of tke kotel to anotker, tke dictapkone 
 system, and, of course, tke regular telepkones, by xtfkick you can talk 
 to tke office, to tke city, or to Buffalo, Ckicago, Boston or St. Louis 
 at will from your room. In addition, you talk, of course, to any otker 
 guest in tke kotel tkat you care to. 
 
 Tkere are pneumatic tubes tkat carry laundry bundles and a 
 vacuum cleaning service tkat picks up tke dust and carries it out. 
 
 Every known device kas been installed by wkick dust is kept out 
 of tke kotel, and a scientist of note tells me tkat tke atmospkere in 
 any of ^Tke Biltmore rooms — office, dining room, buffets, retiring 
 rooms or bedrooms — would skow a far greater purity from tke microbes 
 of dust and bacteria of disintegration tkan outside air, even in tke 
 country, unless it were immediately after a great fall of snow. Tkus 
 it really looks as if wken we want to get absolutely sanitary conditions 
 in future, we will kave to go to tke city and not to tke country*. 
 
 ^Tke Biltmore Hotel is tke last word in kotel creation. It is tke 
 last wkite milestone on tke road to progress. It con- 
 tains every* betterment, every improvement, ever? 
 device for comfort and convenience tkat any* and all 
 tke best kotels of America or Europe kas, and none 
 of tkeir disadvantages. Tken, it kas many* advan- 
 tages of its own. 
 
I "HE big work of tke world Kas always engaged tke genius of tke biggest 
 men. Wken war was tke most important tking in tke world tke big 
 men were warriors, and so ancient kiston? swings around tke men wko could 
 kill and destroy) most. Time goes on, and we find tke big men of 
 tke world are painters or sculptors; men like Mickael Angelo, wko 
 was tke biggest intellect of kis time. Also, comes Leonardo Da 
 Vinci, scientist, engineer, arckitect — writing poetry, painting pic- 
 tures, modeling statuary. And about tke same time in different 
 parts of tke world, tkere were men explorers. Tke}) sailed tke 
 seas in searck of unknown skores; and we kave Columbus turning 
 tke prow* of kis caravel to tke West, and persistently sailing on 
 and on. Tken comes La Salle, Marquette, Joliet, fired witk relig- 
 ious zeal — men intent on doing a work never before attempted. 
 
 But toda^ tke great modern propkets are arckitects, electricians, 
 builders, railroad men, manufacturers, distributors. He wko writes 
 tke kistory^ of our time must deal witk tkese. 
 
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TN THE building of ^The Biltmore vJe find tKe combined genius of 
 ^ the greatest men of the age collaborating, and tke net result is a Kome 
 for tKe traveler that is tKe safest, sanest, most complete, convenient and 
 luxurious institution ever tKougKt out bj) Kuman brains, and constructed 
 witK Kuman Kands. In its furnisKings and decorations it is pleasing to 
 tKe most KigKl^) sensitive and cultivated taste, for all of tKese tKings were 
 designed b^ tKe master minds in such work, Messrs. W. & J. Sloane, of 
 New 4 York. 
 
 All of tKe water used for batKing purposes is soft water, tKe water being 
 filtrated bj) tKe Permutit system, a wonderful device evolved bj) German 
 brains — tKe brains tKat produce music, pKilosopK^ and scientific nucleus. 
 By" tKis system all of tKe mineral salts tKat ma;9 be in tKe water are removed, 
 and notKing is added, so we Kave rain water just as you would catcK it in 
 tKe clouds if you went up in a balloon and got it for yourself before it was 
 contaminated h$ tKe atmospKere. ^The Biltmore is tKe first Kotel in 
 America to adopt tKis soft-water system. 
 
A LL LAUNDRY for guests and house service is done on the 
 ■* premises with soft water, which adds to the life of the fabrics. 
 A beauty) doctor, with whom I am on pleasant speaking terms, tells me 
 that this soft water also adds greatly to the beauty) of the complexion, 
 and is absolutely hygienic, which hard water is certainly not. 
 
 There are twenty)-six stories in ^The Biltmore Hotel, but there is 
 really^ no choice in the rooms, so far as altitude is concerned. There are 
 a thousand bedrooms and nine hundred and fifty) private baths. Mo 
 wall-paper of an}) sort is used in an}) room of this hotel, it having been 
 discovered that wall-paper, while more or less beautiful, is unsanitary). 
 
 All baseboards are marble, and the elevator shafts are solid stone. 
 There is a Louis XIV ball and banquet room on the nineteenth floor, 
 seating six hundred people, surrounded with a royal suite of reception 
 and supper rooms. This ball room has a gallery) and twelve exits and 
 entrances, and is a salon befitting a royal palace. In addition to 
 this, there is a smaller banquet and music room on the fourth floor, 
 which would dazzle the eyes of an}) one unaccustomed to luxurious 
 establishments. 
 
 The construction of the exterior of the building 
 is such as to permit on the sixth floor a large 
 pergola and out-of-door garden, with walks, flower 
 beds and ornamental shrubs — an ideal spot for 
 summer dining, amid floral surroundings and far 
 above the strident noises of the city. This, like 
 the banquet hall, is supplied with an independent 
 kitchen — and, speaking of kitchens, please note 
 that every) one of these indispensable adjuncts 
 to a hotel are above ground in ^The Biltmore, 
 and not placed in illy-ventilated cellars, as in 
 most hotels. 
 
MERVE irritation is reduced to the minimum at Oke Bilt more. 
 
 If you like music at your meals you can go to a dining room 
 where a Polish professor produces sweet symphonies. If, like Richard 
 Mansfield, you prefer to eat in silence, you are accommodated. Some 
 philosopher has said that there is a vast difference between eating 
 dinner and dining. So there is. You dine at Qlie Biltmore. The 
 china is unlike the usual hotel ware and more like that which you 
 find on a private table of refinement. The napen? and the Gorham 
 silverware, chaste in design and pattern, added to the attention of 
 trained waiters, all tend to enhance your enjoyment of the food, 
 which has been prepared b$ chefs known on both sides of the 
 Atlantic. The whole building is a place of rest, quiet as the country, 
 beautiful as the Little Trianon at Versailles. Summer heat can never 
 reach it, nor winter's cold penetrate it. The tem- 
 perature is that of the North Temperate Zone in 
 summer. Turkish baths, a huge swimming pool, 
 gymnasiums, music rooms, ball rooms, banquet 
 rooms, a dozen private dining rooms — here are 
 accommodations that cater to ever? exigency^ and 
 condition of life. 
 
 Just to show" how complete this place is, there is 
 a hospital with an operating room, as perfect as 
 science and invention can make it, to take care of 
 emergency^ cases. Doctors and nurses are here, 
 people of skill to look 
 after the wants of 
 the guests that ma$ 
 need aid. 
 
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I 'HE average guest would never know 1 anything about the hospital. 
 Tou only" find it when you require it or search it out. And, 
 while The Biltmore eminently stands for health, yet accident is 
 provided against. 
 
 And then there is something more, because a hotel is more than a 
 mass of stone and concrete and a tangle of pipes and wires, and rooms, 
 and dishes, and pictures, and statuary ; yes, there is something else, 
 and that is element of human service. We have been told that cor- 
 porations have no souls, but a thing that hasn't a soul is dead. At 
 The Bilt more there is a healthful, friendly" atmosphere, a gentleness, 
 a kindness, a courtesy" and a high intelligence that never obtrudes, 
 but which is always right there when you need it. And this friend- 
 liness and devotion to human needs is a quality) that you cannot omit. 
 The Biltmore, like paradise, is a condition of mind. Also, it is an 
 environment. 
 
 The assistants, clerks and help are all picked men and women, 
 tried and tested, and in order to get this select quality" of employees 
 I hear that the management is paying more than the average hotel 
 man pays. But in return he gets a big and undivided service from 
 his helpers. 
 
 Some people imagine that the prices at 
 The Bilt more are of a kind that can only" be 
 met by" royalty. This is a mistake; the 
 prices — why, the)) are just what you have 
 been paying elsewhere, when you flattered 
 yourself you were putting up first class. 
 
HTHE BILTMORE is practically a part of the Grand 
 *■ Central Terminal, and the Grand Central Terminal is 
 tke test and most complete building ever constructed. 
 
 The palaces and temples of ancient Greece and Rome 
 cannot be compared in completeness with the Grand Central 
 and its "Civic Center." 
 
 Here is a capital in itself — finer far than ever a king 
 enjoyed. Some time I am going to take a month and get 
 acquainted with the Grand Central Civic Center. As it is, 
 all I can do now* is just to put down here a fev? little hints 
 about this most complete of modern hostelries. 
 
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 AMY one who does not know 1 ^The Biltmore Hotel is lagging bekind in 
 life's procession. It is a part of the education of ever>) man and 
 woman to knov? what the big men of the world are doing, and what civili- 
 zation is supplying. Onlj) thus are we able to know" in what direction we 
 are traveling and how* fast we are moving. And so m$ advice is to ever}) 
 citizen of America, or of Europe as well, is, when you are in New* York, 
 do not fail to see Q"he Biltmore Hotel. It is a place of safety, sanity, 
 sanitation, health and luxury, where use and beauty^ blend, and the ideal 
 place for temporary^ or permanent abode. Here courtesy, kindness, friend- 
 ship and goodwill smile you a welcome. You will be glad when you arrive 
 at The Biltmore ; you will be sorr>) when 
 you have to go ; and you will look forward 
 with fond anticipation to a return visit. 
 
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