New-York tribune., 1920-02-15
Astor Auction To Be Held
In Astor Hotel Ballroom
Sentiment and Business Logic Determined Location.
Hotel Is Eden Farm, Great Part of Which !,
Involved i'm Sale; Wide Interest in Liqudat;or

Tho extensive rcal estate holdings Of
the late Henry Astor, who forsook So
ciety to we'd the daughter Of an up
state farmer and thereby lost tho op-
portunity to be head Of the Astor fam
lily, are to be sold on March 8. in the
large ballroom Of the Hotel Astor,
starting at II o'clock in the morning.
Sentiment as we'll as good business
logic determined the holding Of the sale
Of this interesting characters real es-
tate In the Hotel Astor instead OF the
Vesey Street auction room, where all
Of the great auction sales OF the last
decade have been held.
The Astor Hotel site was part OF tho
famous Eden farm, which the first Jonn
Jacob Astor bought after the Revolu-
tionary War for about $4,000 all told.
The greater part Of this farm was
given by Mr.. Astor to his nephew,
Henry Astor, when still baby OF TWO
or three wears. and it Is this Eden farm
property that Mr.. Astors heirs WILL
partition at auction on March py ).
Clarence Davies and Joseph +. Day,
auctioneers.
Whole Country Interested
INQUIRIES received by the auctioneers
and the attorneys in the action indl-
cate that interest In the liquidation OF
the 141 theater sites, brownstone front
dwellings, apartment houses, common
place tenements and factory plots, most
Of them in or hard by Times Square,
is country wide. The belief Is that
folks from many distant points will
attend the sale, as the realty to be
| offered is in one Of the most active
sections in the city, the amusement
center of New York and one Of its few
twenty-four hour buA1ness locations. 1t
has proved, especially in the last ten
years, wonderful field of investment
and speculation, as values have moved
upward there when declining in other
parts. 1t was one of the few districts
in which the Tax Department was able
to report a substantial increase IN tax
able property values during the period
of great depression in real estate.
1923 Years Held by Astors
The auction was brought to the Hotel
| Astor that folks from out of town and
others might have the comforts which
| they would not have if held in the
Vesey Street auction room. The dis
posal of the estate will consume twelve
hours and will mark the end Of an
ownership in this property ranging
back 1913 years, to the time when that
section and for miles to the south of
!
great farms The Cosine farm was just
to the north, and that, too, became an
Astor possession.
The sale, too, will record a revision
in the policy of the family with regard
to real estate, which was to hold prop.
crty once purchased. Vincent Astor
was the first Astor to deviate from this
business maxim, which was almost as
old as the nation.
The Astor's real estate, which Is to
be sold for the benefit Of Vincent Astor
and a score of cousins and aunts and
unclcs, includes the land at Broadway
and Forty-ffth Street, on which are
built the Astor, Bijou and Morosco
theaters; also sixty three and four
story private dwellings,; thrty-eight
tenements, with and without stores;
thirty-three private houses under
ground leases, seven factory buildings
and SIX vacant plots.
All in Good Sections
In the main these holdings are situ-
ate between Times Square and the new
1000 foot steamship piers on the Hud-
son River frontage. between Forty
fourth and Forty-seventh streets.
While The bulk of the property is
located as described, number Of the
Astor Estate properties lie north of
Times Square and west of the more
northerly Fiftieth Street and Broad
way amusement centers, between Forty
seventh and Fifty-hrst streets, with
numerous other holdings fronting on
! Broadway, Third, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth.
Eleventh and Twelfth avenues.
Many of the properties will be sold
subject to leases expiring May / or
October Of this year. Many also are
capable Of being altered for business
purposes or suitable for dwellings,.
Henry Astor was born in 1892 and
died in 1918, on his farm at Copake.
Columbia County, N. Y, where he lived
for almost fifty years. He had been
estranged from his family since 1871,
in which year he married Malvina Dine
hart, the daughter of farmer near
his fathers estate at Rhinebeck.
Auctioneers Urge Buying
In statement issued yesterday by