Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
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The hotel's name without the double hyphen is engraved in gold over the entrance. |
The world-famous Waldorf-Astoria Hotel has been housed in two historic landmark buildings of
New York City. The first, designed by architect
Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the
Empire State Building. The present building at 301
Park Avenue in
Manhattan is a 47-story, 625
ft. (191
m)
Art Deco landmark designed by architects
Schultz and Weaver that dates from
1931 and is now part of the
The Waldorf-Astoria Collection.
Now the name,
Waldorf=Astoria, appears with the double hyphen, but originally the single hyphen was employed, as recalled by a popular expression and song, "Meet Me at the Hyphen."
The modern hotel has three American and classic European restaurants, and a beauty parlor located off the main lobby. Several luxurious boutiques surround the distinctive lobby, which has won awards for its restoration to the original period character. An even more luxurious, virtual "hotel within a hotel" in its upper section is known as
The Waldorf Towers operated by
Conrad Hotels & Resorts.
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The hotel's name with the double hyphen on the awning over the Park Avenue entrance. |
An
Astor family feud contributed to the events which led to the construction of the original Waldorf-Astoria on
Fifth Avenue.
It started as two hotels: one owned by
William Waldorf Astor, whose 13-story Waldorf Hotel was opened in
1893 and the other owned by his cousin,
John Jacob Astor IV, called the Astoria Hotel and opened
four years later and four stories higher.
William Astor, motivated in part by a dispute with
his aunt, built the original Waldorf Hotel next door to her home, on the site of his father's mansion and today's
Empire State Building. The hotel was built to the specifications of founding proprietor
George Boldt; he and his wife Louise had become known as the operators of the Bellevue, an elite boutique hotel in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Broad Street, subsequently the
Bellevue Stratford Hotel. Later the noted hotel host, Claude H. Bennett, became Manager of the rebuilt and greatly enlarged Philadelphia hotel during the 1920s through the 1940s. His son, Robert C Bennett, and grandson, Robert Jr., were also employed on the management staff of the 'Grand Dame' of Broad Street in the 1970s. Louise Boldt had been instrumental in making that hotel attractive and
socially acceptable to wealthy women. This characteristic probably was a major factor in asking George Boldt to become proprietor of the new Waldorf Hotel in New York. Boldt continued to own the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia.
William Astor's construction of a hotel next to his aunt's home furthered and strengthened his feud with her. But with Boldt's help, John Astor persuaded his aunt to move uptown. John Astor then built the Astor Hotel and leased it to Boldt. Initially foreseen as two separate entities, Boldt had planned the new structure so that it could be connected to the old by means that became known as Peacock Alley. The combined Waldorf-Astoria became the largest hotel in the world at the time, while maintaining the original Waldorf's high standards.
The Waldorf-Astoria is hitorically significant for transforming the contemporary hotel, then a facility for transients, into a social center of the city as well as a prestigious destination for visitors. The Waldorf-Astoria was influential in advancing the status of women, who were admitted singly without escorts. Founding proprietor,
George C. Boldt, became wealthy and prominent internationally, if not so much a popular celebrity as his famous employee,
Oscar Tschirky, "Oscar of the Waldorf." Boldt built one of American's most ambitious houses,
Boldt Castle, on one of the
Thousand Islands. George Boldt's wife,
Louise Kehrer Boldt, 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.
In 2006
Hilton Hotels announced plans to build a second Waldorf-Astoria near Disney World in Florida.
*William derives his middle name from
Walldorf,
Germany, from which his great-grandfather
John Jacob Astor emigrated in 1784. John Jacob Astor's
Pacific Fur Company founded
Fort Astoria in
Astoria, Oregon which is the first permanent United States settlement on the Pacific Ocean. Members of the expedition (which was the first trans-continental trip after
Lewis and Clark) to establish settlement are called
Astorians.
*During the 1950s and early 1960s, former U.S. president
Herbert Hoover and retired U.S. General
Douglas MacArthur, lived in suites on different floors of the hotel. A plaque affixed to the wall on the 49th Street side commemorates this. Around the time of
World War I, inventor
Nikola Tesla had lived in the earlier Waldorf=Astoria.
*The U.S. government keeps a large suite on the hotel's 42nd floor as the
ambassadorial residence for its
United Nations ambassador.
*The hotel has its own platform as part of the
Grand Central Terminal, used by
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
Adlai Stevenson, and
Douglas MacArthur, among others.
*
Waldorf salad was first created in
1896 at the
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in
New York by
Oscar Tschirky, who was the
maître d'hôtel.
*
Cole Porter and
Linda Lee Thomas had an apartment in the Waldorf Towers, where she died in 1954.
*The original Waldorf-Astoria was used in the investigation into the
Titanic sinking
*The
Nascar Nextel Cup awards banquet has been held here since the 1980's
*
Official website*
Waldorf Towers*
The hotel's Grand Central Terminal platform, maintained as a personal project by an employee of
Columbia University*
"Peacock Alley" explanation, from the personal website of an etymological editor/consultant
*
1952 Empire Room review
