 thumb|250px|george c. boldt. george charles boldt (25 april 1851&nbsp;&ndash; 5 december 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. ==philadelphia== born as georg karl boldt in bergen auf rÃ¼gen on the island of rÃ¼gen in the baltic sea,people archive of the home country publishing company heimat-bild-verlag he emigrated to the united states in 1864.new york times obituary, december 6, 1916 he began as a kitchen worker in new york, and, at age 25, was hired (by his future father-in-law) to manage the diningroom of philadelphia's most exclusive gentlemen's club, the philadelphia club. boldt's first hotel was the bellevue (1881), at the nw corner of broad & walnut streets, in philadelphia. he soon bought a competing hotel, the stratford, at the sw corner. two decades later, on the site of the stratford, he built the largest hotel the city had ever seen, the 1,090-room bellevue-stratford hotel (1902â04, now the park hyatt). the enormous fortunes generated by robber barons in the post-civil war era led to an unprecedented level of luxurious living for wealthy americans. boldt catered to this new super-rich class, charging the highest prices for the very best, and becoming one of them in the process. thumb|center|600px|engraved 1916 letterhead of the bellevue-stratford hotel with vignettes of the hotel as well as those of the waldorf and astoria hotels in new york all of which were then operating under the management of george boldt. ==new york== william waldorf astor built the waldorf hotel (1890â93) in new york city, with boldt as proprietor. john jacob astor iv built the adjoining astoria hotel (1897). boldt mediated between the feuding millionaire cousins, leasing the astoria himself, and merging the two buildings under his management as the waldorf-astoria hotel.waldorf-astoria hotel from new york architectural images. the empire state building now occupies its site at 34th street and 5th avenue. he is credited with popularizing thousand island dressing at the waldorf-astoria hotel, where he instructed maÃ®tre d', oscar tschirky, to include it on the menu. the hotel introduced other popular food items, such as waldorf salad. he is well known for building [[boldt castle]
1851_births 1916_deaths American_hoteliers Burials_at_Woodlawn_Cemetery_(Bronx) German_emigrants_to_the_United_States People_from_the_Province_of_Pomerania