The Astor Market was an indoor public market built in 1915 at 95th Street and

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on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

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. It was financed by

Vincent Astor William Vincent Astor (November 15, 1891 – February 3, 1959) was an American businessman, philanthropist, and member of the prominent Astor family. Early life Called Vincent, he was born in New York City on November 15, 1891. Astor was the eld ...

with between $750,000 and $1,000,000.

History

It was designed by

Tracy and Swartwout Tracy and Swartwout was a prominent New York City architectural firm headed by Evarts Tracy and Egerton Swartwout. History Evarts Tracy (1868–1922) was the son of first cousins Jeremiah Evarts Tracy and Martha Sherman Greene. His paternal grandmo ...

in 1915 and financed by

who wanted to provide fresh produce at lower prices for the people of Manhattan. The

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was a mural by William Mackay.

Jules Guérin Jules Guérin (14 September 1860 – 10 February 1910) was a French journalist and anti-Semitic activist. He founded and led the Antisemitic League of France (), an organisation similar to the , and edited the French weekly (Paris, 1896–190 ...

created banners for the flagpoles that were placed on the roof. The market closed in 1917 and was later demolished. At the time of the market's demise, one published account summarized the causes of its failure as follows:

Laudable as were the motives of the would-be reformer, the Astor Market, like other similar experiments, failed because its founder failed to consider the whims of human nature. One can count on his fingers the number of grocery and produce stores which have succeeded in attracting trade from any considerable distance to purchase staple articles of food. People will come into the shopping district to compare values on rugs, furniture and dresses, but not on oranges, Bread and fish. This is an age in which convenience and service are as vital to the grocer's success as good merchandise and an attractive store. Most people, on account of service and convenience, prefer to buy at the neighborhood corner grocery, with the result that in this country there is one grocery store for every 400 people.

References

External links

* {{Upper West Side 1915 establishments in New York City Buildings and structures demolished in 1917 1917 disestablishments in New York (state) Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Retail markets in the United States Food markets in the United States