The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-12-21
FAMOUS HOTEL
TO Be Raced
IN new YORK
Waldorf Astoria viii Make
Way for 80 Story
SkySCraper.

BIZ United Press
NEW YORK, Dec. 21.-The Wal
dorf- Astoria, one of the famous
hostelries of all time, will be
wrecked next summer to make way
for an Office building.
Announcement was made Thurs
day that the hotel and its valuable
site at Thirty-third and Fifth ave-
nue., had been sold to the Bethlehem
Engineering Corporation by the
present owners, the Waldorf Astoria
Realty Company.
No price was given, but it was
reliably reported as being some
where near $2o,0O0,00O.
The passing of the Waldorf
Astoria will recall what a promi-
nent part this hotel had in the
shaping of social life in New York.
In reality, it is two hotels in one.
The Waldorf was built in 1853 by
William Waldorf Aston. -Four years
later John Astor erected a seven
teen-story addition, and the name
of the hotel was changed to the
Waldorf Astoria.
Called 'Boldt's Folly
George G. Boldt, who opened the
Waldorf, came to New York from
Philadelphia with a new conception
of hotel operation. He believed
bookkeeping was a quaSi-public
business and that every effort
should be bent toward making the
guests comfortable.
When the announcement was
made that there would be $50 priv
ate bathrooms in the hotel, people
I'll over the country laughed and
called the project "Boldt'S folly" or
''Astors folly" For p time it seemed
they were right, for the hotel did
not prosper Immediately after it
was built. The financial panic of
1898 made it difficult to obtain pat
ronage and on one Sunday in that
year there we're only forty guests
registered at the Waldorf. About
97O employees were on hand to serve
those. forty persons.
One of Worlds Wonders<
Soon, however, the hotel became
one of the wonders Of the new
world. It's rose room, its Peacock
Alley, the Grand Ballroom and the
magnificent bar fronting on forty
third street, became the topic of
conversation in the capitals Of
Europe.
Princes were feted there; party
Of Spanish grandees headed by the
duke and duchess of Veragua,
stopped at the Waldorf and after
that the hotel had the approval of
society.
John Jacob Astor tore down his
mansion which shared the Fifth
avenue frontage with the Waldorf,
and ordered an addition built to the
hotel. That was completed two
years later, and the name of the
hotel was changed. The fame of
the Waldorf Astoria increased after
the prince of Wales, the king and
uu66Il u IIlG B6IS4dllo, dllu Gl4C o1oCCl
of the emperor of Japan made it
their headquarters on visits to New
York
Plan Fifty Story Structure
Every effort was made to in
crease the comfort of guests. When
ping pong became fad, tables for
the game were installed. free bill
lard tables we're put in and the
first Monday morning musical was
held in one of the bathrooms.
Among prominent Americans who
made their New York home there
were Charles M. Schwab and Ebert
H. Gary.
Famous artists contributed to the
beauty of the building. Edwin
Blashfield was commissioned to do
the ceiling of the grand ballroom
and viii H. Low was engaged to do
the murals.
The purchasers announced that
the building which will be erected
on the site would be fifty stories
high.