The Waldorf-Astoria originated as two

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s, built side by side by feuding relatives, on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. Built in 1893 and expanded in 1897, the hotels were razed in 1929 to make way for construction of the

Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story, Art Deco-style supertall skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its n ...

. Their successor, the current

Waldorf Astoria New York The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

, was built on

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

in 1931. The original Waldorf Hotel opened on March 13, 1893, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, on the site where millionaire developer

William Waldorf Astor William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor (31 March 1848 – 18 October 1919) was an American-English attorney, politician, hotelier, publisher and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of New York City. He moved t ...

had previously built his mansion. Constructed in the

German Renaissance The German Renaissance, part of the Northern Renaissance, was a cultural and artistic movement that spread among German thinkers in the 15th and 16th centuries, which developed from the Italian Renaissance. Many areas of the arts and sciences ...

style by

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper." He worked three times with Edward Clark, ...

, it stood high, with fifteen public rooms and 450 guest rooms, and a further 100 rooms allocated to servants, with laundry facilities on the upper floors. It was heavily furnished with antiques purchased by founding manager and president

George Boldt George Charles Boldt Sr. (April 25, 1851 – December 5, 1916) was a Prussian-born American hotelier. A self-made millionaire, he influenced the development of the urban hotel as a civic social center and luxury destination. Life and care ...

and his wife during an 1892 visit to Europe. The Empire Room was the largest and most lavishly adorned room in the Waldorf, and soon after opening it became one of the best restaurants in New York, rivaling

Delmonico's Delmonico's is a series of restaurants that have operated in New York City, and Greenwich, Connecticut, with the present version located at 56 Beaver Street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Manhattan. The origin ...

and

Sherry's Sherry's was a restaurant in New York City. It was established by Louis Sherry in 1880 at 38th Street and Sixth Avenue. In the 1890s, it moved to West 37th Street, near Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (Ne ...

. The Astoria Hotel opened in 1897 on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, next door to the Waldorf. It was also designed in the German Renaissance style by Hardenbergh, at a height of about , with sixteen stories, twenty-five public rooms and 550 guest rooms. The ballroom, in the

Louis XIV style The Louis XIV style or ''Louis Quatorze'' ( , ), also called French classicism, was the style of architecture and decorative arts intended to glorify King Louis XIV and his reign. It featured majesty, harmony and regularity. It became the official ...

, has been described as the "''

pièce de résistance {{Short pages monitor Business soon picked up and the hotel earned $4.5 million ($ in ) in its first year, exorbitant for that period. By 1895, the Waldorf added a five-story addition. This brought the hotel's ballroom down to the main floor; the move brought many parties and dinners which were formerly held in private homes, into the Waldorf. Adjacent to the new ballroom was the Oak Room, where one could sit by large fireplaces where there were always logs on the hearth. In winter, waiters would offer patrons complimentary baked potatoes with butter.

Opening of the Astoria and consolidation

When a decision was made to build a second hotel next to the Waldorf, truce provisions were developed between the Astors which reserved some proprietary rights. The plan design used corridors to join the two buildings and there was even a bond provision for bricking up the corridors should the need arise. On November 1, 1897, Waldorf's cousin,

John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He was among the most ...

, opened the 16 story Astoria Hotel on an adjacent site. The Astoria, named after

Astoria, Oregon Astoria is a Port, port city in and the county seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state and was the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the ...

, which was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1811, stood on the site of William B. Astor's house, and was leased to Boldt. Waldorf old

The two hotels, under one management, were renamed the Waldorf-Astoria. Situated on Fifth Avenue in what is now

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan, serving as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Building, the ...

, it was surrounded by streets on all sides. The Waldorf-Astoria had a frontage of on Fifth Avenue, on 33rd Street, on 34th Street, and on Astor Court, with 13 entrances opening directly from these thoroughfares. Below, extending to a depth beneath the sidewalk, and occupying an additional area of running toward Broadway, were the basements, which contained the engine room, laundries, and kitchens. From the sidewalk to the observatory roof was a height of . It was the largest hotel in the world at the time. The cost of the two buildings, exclusive of the furnishings but including the land, was about $15 million ($ in ). The assessed value in 1897 was $12.125 million ($ in ) making it the next most valuable parcel on Fifth Avenue, after the B. Altman and Company Building site immediately northeast. The hotel became, according to author Sean Dennis Cashman, "a successful symbol of the opulence and achievement of the Astor family". The hotel faced stiff competition from the early 20th century, with a range of new hotels springing up in New York City such as the

Hotel Astor Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 4 ...

(1904), perceived as a successor to the Waldorf-Astoria; The St. Regis (1904), built by John Jacob Astor IV as a companion to the Waldorf-Astoria;

The Knickerbocker ''The Knickerbocker'', or ''New-York Monthly Magazine'', was a literary magazine of New York City, founded by Charles Fenno Hoffman in 1833, and published until 1865. Its long-term editor and publisher was Lewis Gaylord Clark, whose "Editor' ...

(1906); and the

Savoy-Plaza Hotel The Savoy-Plaza Hotel was a 33-story hotel overlooking Central Park at Fifth Avenue and East 59th Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It opened in 1927 and was demolished in 1965. History Original Savoy Hotel The original Savoy Hotel at ...

(1927). By the 1920s, the hotel was becoming dated, and the elegant social life of New York had moved much farther north than 34th Street. The Astor family sold the hotel to the developers of the

and closed the hotel on May 3, 1929; it was demolished soon afterward. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel records of 1893–1929 are held by the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

's Archives & Manuscripts division.

Society

From its inception, the Waldorf was always a "must stay" hotel for foreign dignitaries. The viceroy of China,

Li Hung-Chang Li Hongzhang, Marquess Suyi ( zh, t=李鴻章; also Li Hung-chang; February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901) was a Chinese statesman, general and diplomat of the late Qing dynasty. He quelled several major rebellions and served in importan ...

stayed at the hotel in 1896 and feasted on 100-year-old eggs which he brought with him. Li also brought his own stoves, chefs and servants with him to prepare and serve his meals. Upon his departure from the Waldorf, he ordered a basket of roses to be sent to every female guest at the hotel, and was very generous in the gifts and gratuities he provided for the hotel's staff. In 1902, a lavish dinner was organized for Prince Henry of Prussia; in addition, the hotel built a private door on its 33rd Street side and installed a private elevator. The staff was also called upon to form a "bucket brigade" for the prince's bath when there was a problem with the plumbing in the royal suite. One early wealthy resident was Chicago businessman J. W. Gates who would gamble on stocks on Wall Street and play poker at the hotel. He paid up to $50,000 a year to hire suites at the hotel, where he had his own private entrance and elevator. Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna of Russia was invited by Waldorf president Lucius Bloomer to stay at the hotel in the 1920s. The Waldorf-Astoria gained significant renown for its fundraising dinners and balls, regularly attracting notables of the day such as

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

who became a fixture. Banquets were often held in the ballroom for esteemed figures and international royalty. On February 11, 1899, Oscar of the Waldorf hosted a lavish dinner reception which the ''New York Herald Tribune'' cited as the city's costliest dinner at the time. Some $250 ($ in ) was spent per guest, with bluepoint oysters, green turtle soup, lobster, ruddy duck and blue raspberries. Two months later, 120 sailors of the cruiser ''Raleigh'' were given a banquet, during which the gallery was decorated with silk banners and flags. One article that year claimed that at any one time the hotel had $7 million ($ in ) worth of valuables locked in the safe, testament to the wealth of its guests. In 1909, banquets, attended by hundreds, were organized for Arctic explorer

Frederick Cook Frederick Albert Cook (June 10, 1865 – August 5, 1940) was an American explorer, physician and ethnographer, who is most known for allegedly being the first to reach the North Pole on April 21, 1908. A competing claim was made a year l ...

in September and

Elbert Henry Gary Elbert Henry Gary (October 8, 1846August 15, 1927) was an American lawyer, county judge and business executive. He was a founder of U.S. Steel in 1901 alongside J. P. Morgan, William H. Moore, Henry Clay Frick and Charles M. Schwab. The cit ...

, a founder of

US Steel The United States Steel Corporation is an American steel company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It maintains production facilities at several additional locations in the U.S. and Central Europe. The company produces and sells steel products, ...

, the following month. The hotel was also influential in advancing the status of women, who were admitted singly without escorts. Boldt's wife, Louise, was influential in evolving the idea of the grand urban hotel as a social center, particularly in making it appealing to women as a venue for social events, or just to be seen in the Peacock Alley. The combined hotel was the first to do away with a ladies-only parlor and provided women with a place to play

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

and

ping-pong Table tennis (also known as ping-pong) is a racket sport derived from tennis but distinguished by its playing surface being atop a stationary table, rather than the Tennis court, court on which players stand. Either individually or in teams of ...

. It was the first New York hotel to allocate an entire room for afternoon tea. The teas began in the Waldorf Garden with attendance eventually being so large, both the Empire Room and at times, the Rose Room, had to be opened during the hours of four and six pm to accommodate the number of guests. Men were admitted to the teas only if they were in the company of a woman. The United States Senate inquiry into the sinking of the ''Titanic'' was opened at the hotel on April 19, 1912, and continued there for some time in the Myrtle Room, before moving on to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

John Jacob Astor IV was one of the people who perished on its ill-fated journey. The

Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra The Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra was an orchestra that played primarily at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, both the Waldorf-Astoria (New York, 1893), old and Waldorf Astoria New York, new locations. In addition to providing dinner music at the famous ...

included several conductors over the years. In the early 1900s, it was under the direction of

Carlo Curti Carlo Curti (6 May 1859 – 8 May 1922), also known as Carlos Curti, was an Italian musician, composer and bandleader. He moved to the United States whose most lasting contribution to American society was popularizing the mandolin in American mu ...

, who spent his career between the United States and Mexico. Later he was replaced by Joseph Knecht, who was formerly assistant

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

of the Metropolitan Opera House. Consisting of fifty musicians, it was maintained by Boldt at an annual expense of $100,000. The orchestra performed regular Sunday night concerts in the grand ballroom. The Waldorf-Astoria Bar was a favorite haunt of many of the financial elite of the city from the hotel's inception in 1893, and colorful characters who adopted the venue such as

Diamond Jim Brady James Buchanan Brady (August 12, 1856 – April 13, 1917), also known as Diamond Jim Brady, was an American businessman, financier and philanthropist of the Gilded Age. Early life and family Brady was born in New York City to an Irish immig ...

Buffalo Bill Cody William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), better known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. One of the most famous figures of the American Old West, Cody started his legend at the young age o ...

and

Bat Masterson Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the late 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was bo ...

. A number of cocktails were invented at the hotel, including the Rob Roy and the

Robbie Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets wh ...

Architecture

On the exterior, the two and three lower stories in the respective buildings were of red sandstone, while the balance of the work to the roof-line was red brick and red terracotta. The building rested on solid rock and contained a fireproof steel frame. The first and second floors contained public spaces. The combined hotel, after merging in 1897, had 1,300 bedrooms and 178 bathrooms, making it the largest hotel in the world at the time. With a telephone in every room and first-class room service, the hotel featured numerous Turkish and Russian baths for the gentlemen of the day to relax in. Many of the floors were arranged as separate hotels to further the comfort of the guests. Each of these floors had its own team of assistants—clerks, maids, page boys, waiters—as well as telephone and dumbwaiter service, and refrigerators. The bedrooms and corridors were heated by direct radiation. The family included a stained glass picture of the town of Walldorf in the design of the hotel; it was located on the 33rd Street side over the main entrance to the South Palm Garden.

Waldorf Hotel

The Waldorf Hotel, built at a reported cost of about $5 million ($ in ), opened on March 13, 1893, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, on the site where millionaire developer

had previously built his mansion. The hotel stood high, about lower than the Astoria, with a frontage of about on Fifth Avenue, and a total area of . It was a German Renaissance structure, designed by

, with 15 public rooms and 450 guest rooms, and a further 100 rooms allocated to servants, with laundry facilities on the upper floors. ''The New York Times'' proclaimed the hotel a palace after it opened in 1893. The exterior featured loggias, balconies, gables, groups of chimneys, and tiled roofs. One of the chief features was the interior garden court, with fountains and flowers, walls of white terracotta, frescoes and stained glass. The main entrance to the hotel was "sheltered by an elaborate frosted-glass-and-wrought-iron marquee", and the entrance hall was built in Sienna marble, with a mosaic title floor and a coffered ceiling. The original reception desk of the Waldorf Hotel became a registration desk when it merged with the Astoria Hotel in 1897. Beyond the lobby was the main corridor leading to the Empire Room, with an alcove containing elevators and a grand staircase. Near this was the Marie Antoinette parlor, which was used as a reception room for women. It contained 18th century antiques brought back by Boldt and his wife from an 1892 visit to Europe, including a bust of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

, and an antique clock which was once owned by the queen. The ceiling featured frescoes by

Will Hicok Low Will Hicok Low (May 31, 1853November 27, 1932) or Will Hicock Low was an American artist, muralist, and writer on art. Early life Low was born in Albany, New York. In 1873 he entered the atelier of Jean-Léon Gérôme in the École des Beaux ...

, the central of which was called ''The Birth of Venus''. The Gentleman's Cafe was furnished with "robust black oak paneling, hunting murals, and stag-horn chandaliers". The Empire Room was the largest and most lavishly adorned room in the Waldorf, and soon after opening it became one of the best restaurants in New York City, rivaling ''

'' and ''

''. It was modelled after the grand salon in King Ludwig's

palace A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, with satin hangings, upholstery and marble pillars, all of pale green, and Crowninshield's frescoes.

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

in style, the Waldorf's restaurant featured feathered columns of dark-green marble, and the pilasters that were opposite were of

mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Universit ...

, with

ormolu Ormolu (; ) is the gilding technique of applying finely ground, high-carat gold– mercury amalgam to an object of bronze, and objects finished in this way. The mercury is driven off in a kiln, leaving behind a gold coating. The French refer to ...

work in the panels. The caps and bases of both columns and pilasters were gilded. This treatment occupied most of the wall space. The ceiling was divided by heavy beams running from column to column, and between these the flat space was divided into oval and other shaped panels with light mouldings. The color scheme was in tints of pale-green and cream. The panels of the ceiling were frescoed with figures in pinkish-red on a blue sky or field. The walls were principally mahogany and gold, with a little color in the comparatively small wall-spaces left between openings. Among the other rooms were the Turkish

smoking room A smoking room (or smoking lounge) is a room which is specifically provided and furnished for smoking, generally in buildings where smoking is otherwise prohibited. Locations and facilities Smoking rooms can be found in public buildings such ...

, with low divans and ancient Moorish armor, and the ballroom, in white and gold, with Louis XIV decorations. The Waldorf State Apartments, consisting of nine suites, were located on the second floor. The apartments, including the Henry IV Drawing Room, featured 16th and 17th century French and Italian antiques which Boldt and his wife had brought back from Europe. Francois V Bedroom was a reproduction of the room at the Palais de Fontainebleau, and over the years was occupied by the likes of Li Hung-Chang of China, Chowfa Maha Rajiravuth, Prince of Siam, and Albert of Saxe-Coburg. The apartments had their own music room and a banquet hall to seat 20, with a handsome china collection including 48 Sevres plates with European portraits. There were about 6,000 lights in the hotel, with as many as 1,000 small candelabra lamps mounted in specially designed fixtures. The electric fixtures were all furnished by the Archer & Pancoast Manufacturing Company, of New York, while the contract for the general installation work was carried out by the

Edison Electric Illuminating Company The Edison Illuminating Company was established by Thomas Edison on December 17, 1880, to construct electrical generating stations, initially in New York City. The company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies that were establi ...

, of New York, the actual work of wiring being done by the Eastern District of the

General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and Arms industry, defence electronics, communications, and engineering. It was originally founded in 1886 as G. Binswanger and Company as an e ...

. The building was wired throughout on the system of the Interior Conduit and Insulation Company.

Astoria Hotel

The Astoria Hotel, opened in 1897, was situated on the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street. Like the Waldorf, it was designed in the German Renaissance style by Henry J. Hardenbergh, the same architect who designed the Waldorf. With dimensions of , its height, from the floor of the sub-basement, which was below the street level, to the roof-line, was about , or about above the street-level. It was 16 stories in height, including the four stories in the roof. The building was constructed of stone, marble and brick, with a steel skeleton frame and modern fireproof interior construction, and was embellished with "French Second Empire Mansard-roofed towers with iron-work cresting as well as Austrian Baroque onion-domes over corners turrets". There were 25 public rooms and 550 guest rooms, with miles of corridors, vestibules and balls. The entrance featured a double set of plate glass doors to give protection in cold weather, and a U-shaped driveway for horse and carriages. The main corridor was nicknamed "Peacock Alley" by the New York press. The corridor and foyer were treated with pilasters and columns of Sienna marble and a color scheme on the walls and ceilings of salmon-pink, with cream-color and pale-green. The capitals of the columns and pilasters were gilded of solid brass or lacquered. The main corridor ran the entire length of the building from east to west. To the left of it was the Astor Dining Room, fronting on Fifth Avenue, which measured . Great care was taken with it to faithfully reproduce the original dining room of the mansion, three floors above where the original dining room had stood, including all of the original dining room's paneling, carpeting, drapery and fireplace mantel; Italian Renaissance pilasters and columns, carved of marble from northern Russia. The panels of silk hangings were of rose pompadour, and a series of

Charles Yardley Turner Charles Yardley "C. Y." Turner (November 25, 1850 – January 1, 1919) was an American painter, illustrator, muralist and teacher. His Genre painting, genre scenes and American historical paintings were popularized through engravings and book ill ...

mural paintings filled arches and panels at the south end of the room. On the right of the main corridor was the Garden Court of Palms, , rising three stories to a dome-like roof of amber glass above the floor. This, too, was used as a dining room. It was decorated in the Italian style, finished in gray, terracotta and Pavonazzo marble. On the 34th Street side of the corridor was the cafe, , finished in English oak in the style of the German Renaissance, with Flemish decoration. The bar formed another room . On the first floor, at the head-of the east main staircase, was the Astor Gallery, , looking out on 34th Street. The gallery, with seven French windows reaching from floor to ceiling, opened onto a terrace over the entrance to the hotel. The interior was finished in the style of the

Hôtel de Soubise The Hôtel de Soubise () is a city mansion '' entre cour et jardin''. It is located at 60 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, France. History The Hôtel de Soubise was built as an ''hôtel particulier'' for the Prin ...

, with a blue, gray and gold color scheme. There was a parquet floor, and on the south side, opposite the street windows, were other windows which opened into the main corridor on the second floor. The musicians' balcony, upheld by two caryatids, was at the east end. All the balcony railings were of gilded metal work. The mural paintings were notable: four panels, two at either end of the room, and twelve pendentive panels, six on either side and painted by Edward Simmons depicted the four seasons and the twelve months of the year. The "Colonial Room" was decorated in red, contrasting with white woodwork. The second floor contained a private suite of apartments at the northeast corner, with large drawing rooms, dining room, butler's pantry, hallway, three bedrooms, three maids' bedrooms and five bathrooms, all finished in old English oak. All the floors above the third were given up to suites and bedrooms up to the 14th floor. There was a bath for nearly every room, and every bathroom had windows opening to the air, not into shafts. In every room, there was a large trunk closet. The ballroom, in the Louis XIV style, has been described as the "pièce de résistance" of the hotel, measuring by and (three stories) in height. It had a capacity to seat 700 at banquets and 1,200 at concerts, and featured tints of ivory-gray and cream in its design. Noted vocalists such as

Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyric tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles that r ...

and

Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...

performed in the ballroom, with conductor

Anton Seidl Anton Seidl (7 May 185028 March 1898) was a Hungarian conductor, best known for his collaboration with Richard Wagner and conducting his operas, and for his association with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the New York Philharmonic. ...

leading a series of concerts there in the year the combined hotels opened for business. It was possible to buy season tickets for the musical offerings; a box for a season was US$350 and a seat for a season on the ballroom floor was priced at US$60. On the hotel's top floor was the roof-garden, enclosed on all sides by glass, with a glass roof over. It was furnished with rattan chairs and lounges in pale-green and pink, hung across with gauzy fabric. On the roof on the 34th Street side was the grand promenade, , on solid footing high in the air, with a band stand, fountains, and trellises of columns. The roof garden restaurant occupied a space , and was roofed in. The ceiling was high. At the northeast and northwest corners of the roof garden were towers, with spiral stairways within, leading up to the copper covered roofs of the pavilions, which were above the sidewalk. The palm gardens, used as cafes, rose to a height of two and three stories respectively and were roofed-over with domes of tinted glass. Balconies at the various floor levels opened on to these courts to overlook them. The materials used were cream-colored brick and terracotta, and were Italian Renaissance in style. In the sub-basement were the Sprague screw machines for the electric elevators, the fire pumps, the house pumps, the ice plant, and the six Babcock & Wilcox water tube boilers. The elevator system, which served the house from subbasement to roof, was electric, taking its power from the generating plant within the building. There were 18 elevators. The machinery was located in the sub-basement. The boilers aggregated about 3,000 horse power, the electric generators taking 2,200 horse-power of the total energy. The elevators were run by it, as were the 15,000 incandescent lamps, branching from 7,500 outlets. The system of heating and ventilating the public rooms was that of forced draught by means of powerful blowers situated in the sub-basement that forced the fresh air between steam-coils, where it became moderately heated before entering the ducts that lead it to the various rooms. This heat was further augmented by direct radiators placed behind screens in the recesses of the windows and elsewhere.

Notable people

(1848–1919) was a wealthy American attorney, politician, businessman, and newspaper publisher of the

Astor family The Astor family achieved prominence in business sector, business, Socialite, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With Germans, German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to th ...

. He was the only child of financier/philanthropist

John Jacob Astor III John Jacob Astor III (June 10, 1822 – February 22, 1890) was an American financier, philanthropist and a soldier during the American Civil War. He was a prominent member of the Astor family, becoming the wealthiest member in his generation. Ea ...

(1822–1890) and Charlotte Augusta Gibbes (1825–1887). Described as being a "very prickly sort of person", he had a background in Europe and earned wealth buying and selling country estates in England including

Cliveden Cliveden (pronounced ) is an English country house and estate in the care of the National Trust in Buckinghamshire, on the border with Berkshire. The Italianate mansion, also known as Cliveden House, crowns an outlying ridge of the Chiltern Hi ...

and

Hever Castle Hever Castle ( ) is located in the village of Hever, Kent, near Edenbridge, south-east of London, England. It began as a country house, built in the 13th century. From 1462 to 1539, it was the seat of the Boleyn (originally 'Bullen') family. ...

. In his early adult years, Astor returned to the United States and began studies at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (CLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Columbia University, a Private university, private Ivy League university in New York City. The school was founded in 1858 as the Columbia College Law School. The un ...

. He was called to the United States Bar in 1875. He worked for a short time in law practice and in the management of his father's estate of financial and real estate holdings. On his death in 1919, he was reputed to have been worth £200 million, which he left in trust for his two sons Waldorf and John Jacob. His half share of the Waldorf Astoria and the

Astor Hotel Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 44t ...

at the time were reported to have been worth £10 million.

(1851–1916), the founding proprietor, was a Prussian-born American hotelier and self-made millionaire who influenced the development of the urban hotel as a civic social center and luxury destination. His motto was "the guest is always right", and he became a wealthy and prominent figure internationally. The hotel was built to his specifications. He served as president and director of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel Company, as well as the Waldorf-Astoria Segar Company and the Waldorf Importation Company. He also owned and operated the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, an elite boutique hotel on Broad Street in Philadelphia, with his wife, Louise. Boldt was described as "Mild mannered, undignified, unassuming", resembling "a typical German professor with his close-cropped beard which he kept fastidiously trimmed... and his pince-nez glasses on a black silk cord". Boldt retained his contacts with the European elite and he and his wife made frequent trips to Europe, bringing back with them many antiques, a characteristic of the Waldorf Astoria. Boldt continued to own the Bellevue even after his relationship with the Astors blossomed. Lucius Boomer 1930

Lucius M. Boomer (1878–1947) was an American hotelier and businessman, responsible for the general management of the hotel for many years. Physically impressive and brassy, he displayed total dedication to his job and great discipline and care towards his staff, becoming one of the most famous hoteliers of his time. Boomer became interested in the hotel after the death of Boldt in 1916 and purchased it, before buying the Bellevue-Stratford two years later. Following the retirement of Louis Sherry in 1920, he became directing head of the Louis Sherry Ice Cream and Chocolate Company, and was later president of restaurant chain Savarin, Inc. Boomer was primarily responsible for the decision to demolish the hotel and build the new one on Park Avenue in 1931. He continued to manage the hotel until his death in Norway in July 1947.

Henry J. Hardenbergh Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper." He worked three times with Edward Clark, ...

(1847–1918) was an American architect who designed both hotels in the German Renaissance style. Apprenticed in New York from 1865 to 1870 under

Detlef Lienau Detlef Lienau (17 February 1818 – 29 August 1887) was a German architect born in Holstein. He is credited with having introduced the Rococo, French style to American building construction, notably the mansard roof and all its decorative flourish ...

, in 1870, opened his own practice there. He obtained his first contracts for three buildings at

Rutgers College Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College and was aff ...

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Kirkpatrick Chapel The Sophia Astley Kirkpatrick Memorial Chapel, known as Kirkpatrick Chapel, is the chapel to Rutgers University, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and located on the university's main campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey in the United ...

(1873)—through family connections. Hardenbergh designed the

Dakota Apartments The Dakota, also known as the Dakota Apartments, is a cooperative apartment building at 1 West 72nd Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The Dakota was constructed between 1880 and 1884 in the German Rena ...

in 1884, and after building the Waldorf he went on to have an illustrious career as "America's premiere architect of grand hotels", designing the Manhattan Hotel (1896), the

Plaza Hotel The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, ...

(1907), the Martinique Hotel (1911) and numerous other hotels in cities such as Boston and Washington, D.C. Louis Sherry 2

Louis Sherry Louis Sherry (June 6, 1856 – June 9, 1926) was an American restaurateur, caterer, confectioner and hotel, hotelier during the Gilded Age and early 20th century. His name is typically associated with an upscale brand of candy and ice cream, and a ...

(1855–1926) was an American restaurateur, caterer, confectioner and hotelier during the

Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...

and early 20th century, who was of considerable renown in the business. His name is typically associated with an upscale brand of candy and ice cream, and

The Sherry-Netherland The Sherry-Netherland is a 38-story apartment hotel located at 781 Fifth Avenue on the corner of East 59th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed by Schultze & Weaver with Buchman & Kahn. At , it was the ...

hotel in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 1919, Sherry announced an "alliance" with the Waldorf-Astoria that involved both his candies and catering services. Although it was not disclosed at that time, at some point ownership of

Louis Sherry Inc. Louis Sherry Inc. was an early 20th-century company known for quality confectionery products, particularly candy and ice cream. It was founded by New York restaurateur Louis Sherry and Lucius M. Boomer, then Chairman of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel ...

was significantly vested in "Boomer-duPont interests", a reference to Lucius M. Boomer, then chairman of the Waldorf-Astoria, and T. Coleman du Pont. Oscar-Tschirky

Oscar Tschirky Oscar Tschirky (1866 – November 6, 1950) was a Swiss-American restaurateur who was maitre d'hotel, maître d'hôtel of Delmonico's Restaurant and subsequently the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, New York, United States. He was widely known a ...

(1866–1950), known as "Oscar of the Waldorf", was a Swiss chef, ''

maître d'hôtel The ; ), head waiter, host, waiter captain, or ''maître d'' ( , ) manages the public part, or "front of the house", of a formal restaurant. The responsibilities of a ''maître d'hôtel'' generally include supervising the waiting staff, welcom ...

'' from the hotel's inauguration in 1893 until his retirement in 1943. Tschirky had arrived in the United States from Switzerland ten years prior to applying for the position at the new Waldorf and over the years grew to possess an encyclopedic-like knowledge of cuisine and the special trimmings and preferences that the regular diners desired. He authored ''The Cookbook by Oscar of The Waldorf'' (1896), a 900-page book featuring recipes such as

Waldorf salad A Waldorf salad is a fruit and nut salad generally made of celery, fresh apples, walnuts, and grapes, dressed in mayonnaise, and traditionally served on a bed of lettuce as an appetizer or a light meal. The apples, celery, and grapes ...

, which remain popular worldwide. James Remington McCarthy wrote in his book ''Peacock Alley'' that Oscar gained renown among the general public as an artist who "composed sonatas in soups, symphonies in salads, minuets in sauces, lyrics in entrees". In 1902 Tschirky published ''Serving a Course Dinner by Oscar of the Waldorf-Astoria'', a booklet which explains the intricacies of being a caterer to the American and international elite. Tschirky continued to work for the Waldorf Astoria after the original hotel was demolished until his retirement in 1943.

Notes

Footnotes

Citations

Sources

* * * * *

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldorf-Astoria (New York, 1893) Waldorf Astoria New York 1893 establishments in New York (state) Hotels established in 1893 Buildings and structures demolished in 1929 Astor family Defunct hotels in Manhattan Fifth Avenue Midtown Manhattan 1929 disestablishments in New York (state) Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Demolished hotels in New York City 34th Street (Manhattan) Upper class culture in New York City