The architectural firm
Schultze & Weaver designed the Biltmore's exterior in a synthesis of the Spanish-Italian
Renaissance Revival,
Mediterranean Revival, and
Beaux Arts styles, meant as an homage to the
Castilian heritage of Los Angeles. The "Biltmore Angel" is heavily incorporated into the design—as a symbol of the city as well as the Biltmore itself. With a thick steel and concrete frame, the structure takes up half a city block and rises over 11 stories. The interiors of the Biltmore Hotel are decorated with:
frescos and
murals; carved
marble fountains and columns; massive wood-beamed ceilings;
travertine and oak paneled walls;
lead crystal chandeliers; cast
bronze stairwells and doorways; fine artisan
marquetry and mill work; and heavily
embroidered imported
tapestries and draperies. Most notable are the frescoed mural ceilings in the main Galleria and the Crystal Ballroom, which were hand painted in 1922 by Italian artist
John B. Smeraldi, known for his work in the
Vatican and the
White House. Smeraldi and his team famously painted the ballroom's colorful, seamless fresco over a period of seven months, decorating it with figures of
Greek and
Roman gods, angels,
cupids and other mythological creatures. It was meticulously restored in the 1980s by Smeraldi's apprentice,
Anthony Heinsbergen. The imported Austrian crystal chandeliers that adorn it are in diameter. The hotel's original main lobby is today known as the Rendezvous Court, and is used for afternoon tea. It is decorated with a
Moorish Revival styled plaster ceiling painted with
24-carat gold accents, two original imported Italian chandeliers from 1923, and a grand
Spanish Baroque Revival bronze doorway, whose
astronomical clock still keeps time today. Two figures appear on the stairwell front—on the left is the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres, while on the right is the Spanish explorer
Vasco Núñez de Balboa. The current main lobby is located in the rear of the building, in the former Music Room, at the hotel's Grand Avenue entrance. It still has its original travertine walls and oak paneling, as well as the large artificial
skylighted ceiling, reflected in the custom carpet below. Each ballroom on the Galleria level is themed either after the room's original function or the hotel's overall California-heritage premise. The Crystal Ballroom was the hotel's original main ballroom. The Emerald Ballroom was once the hotel's main dining room; its decor features images of hunt and harvest, with hand-painted animals and fish on the cast-plaster ceiling beams. The Tiffany Room was originally a foyer for the adjoining Crystal Ballroom. Its decor centers around exploration, with relief sculptures and panels depicting Queen
Isabella I of Castile, as well as
Christopher Columbus and other
Spanish New World explorers. The split-level Gold Room, once a dining room for elite guests, features
Prohibition-era hidden liquor compartments and panels along the ceiling for
press photographers to take pictures of the event below. It is decorated with a gold
cast-plaster ceiling, hand-oiled wood paneling, and nine mirrored windows along three sides. The South Galleria is painted with floral
friezes inspired by the decor of ancient Roman
Pompeii, and features a vaulted ceiling, marble
balustrades and heavy Roman piers. Gold-painted
wrought iron gates open to a staircase leading down to the huge Biltmore Bowl ballroom, in the hotel's basement. Also of interest is the hotel's health club and indoor pool, which was modeled after the decks of 1920s luxury
ocean liners. Solid brass trim on windows, doors and railings,
teakwood deck chairs and hand-laid Italian mosaic tile on the walls and in the pool are original. ==Events==