photo Library of Congress |
During the Revolutionary War the Bull's Head Tavern sat on Broadway, on the block just north of St. Paul’s Chapel. The area was open and mostly undeveloped and
the grounds around Adam Vanderburgh’s tavern were shaded by spreading trees.
As the city inched northward the tavern disappeared, replaced
by fine brick homes of New York’s wealthy.
Astor owned one of these, at the corner of Broadway and Vesey Street, which he
advertised for rent in The New York Gazette in 1813. The ad doubtlessly infuriated his elite neighbors.
To let, for one or more years, a pleasant situation and an
excellent stand for a drygoods store, the corner house of Vesey Street and
Broadway. Inquire of John Jacob Astor,
corner of Pearl and Pine Streets.
As the years passed Astor envisioned a grand hotel on
this most fashionable of blocks. In 1830
he began purchasing his neighbors’ mansions—John Rutherford’s home; the
house that had belonged to British officer Colonel Axtell then home to Lewis Scott;
and Senator Rufus King’s mansion. Finally
he had them all except John G. Coster’s house.
Coster was not only quite wealthy, he was very attached to
his corner home and had no intentions of selling it. Finally, out of frustration, Astor approached
Coster with an offer he could not refuse.
If Coster would produce two friends, Astor would choose one of them to
put a value on the Coster property.
Whatever that amount was Astor would add $20 thousand to it and write a
check on the spot. John Coster agreed and Astor was forced to pay $60,000 for
the house—about $1.7 million today.
Astor’s friends cautioned him about building a hotel on the
site. According to The New York Times
years later he was admonished “It can never be a success. It is altogether too far uptown.”
But Astor was unmoved.
On April 4, 1834 Philip Hone wrote in his diary of “the pulling down of
the block of houses next to that on which I live—the whole front from Barclay
Street to Vesey on Broadway—where he is going to erect a New York ‘palais
royal,’ which will cost him five or six hundred thousand dollars.”
The cornerstone was laid on the Fourth of July that
year. It was a momentous event with the
mayor, Cornelius W. Lawrence, presiding and the militia parading up Broadway to
the site. A silver tablet bore the names
of John Jacob Astor and the architect, Isaiah Rogers. Inside was a picture of Lafayette, a picture
of New York and copies of the newspapers of that day.
Construction of the mammoth hotel would take four years and
cost around $400,000. On June 1, 1836
the doors opened to the public and the lavish hotel made news as far away as
England. A London newspaper called it “A
model of architectural beauty and of massive grandeur, luxurious and elegant in
its appointments.”
In 1850 the Broadway neighborhood around the Astor House was still quiet -- Library of Congress |
The opening was attended by press from Baltimore, Boston,
Philadelphia and other cities. The New
Yorker said the interior was of a “style of unostentatious richness and severe
simplicity.” Custom-made black walnut
furniture sat among marble columns on blue-and-white marble mosaic floors. A New York reporter remarked that New Yorkers
must now know how Romans felt when they first saw the completed Coliseum.
The hotel introduced travelers to the most modern
innovations. At a time when most
houses still relied on candles, it had its own gas manufacturing plant that
supplied gas lighting throughout. The New
York Constellation reported that “The house was lighted by this gas everybody
is discussing.” The unfamiliar technology proved a bit
dangerous to some guests. Rather than
turn off the gas jet, these visitors would blow out the flame, as they would a candle, with the result
that several guests were asphyxiated in their sleep.
A steam engine in the basement ran a pump that provided
water to all floors and powered machinery in the kitchen and
laundry. Reservoirs in the attic
provided running water to 17 bathing rooms and two showers. Each floor had hot and cold running water as
well as water closets. The indoor plumbing
alone was considered miraculous.
In the basement was a printing press for the printing of
daily menus. There was an innovative
system of bells and individualized door locks.
For gentlemen guests there was a grand dining room 108-feet long and
smaller elegant dining rooms for women and their male escorts. The hotel offered a reading room, a bar room,
an oyster cellar, smoking rooms, barbers, hairdressers, a drugstore, tailors and
boot makers.
There were around 360 rooms in the hotel which prompted The
New Yorker to ponder on November 25, 1837 “On Wednesday night 647 persons slept
in Astor House, and bye the bye, were not crowded. How many villages are there in this country
that make considerable show that do not contain this number?”
A decade after opening, Astor made a change in the hotel
that would have long-lasting effects.
The central courtyard with its fountains and trees was enclosed under a
great rotunda. Here a richly carved bar
was installed and the Astor House’s “free lunch” was served to generations of
working New Yorkers.
In 1899 the rotunda was still the preferred luncheon spot for businessmen -- NYPL Collection |
In 1848 rooms at the Astor House cost $2 per day. It was around this time that Englishman
William Chambers stayed here. Dazzled,
he wrote “An American hotel is not a house:
it is a town.”
The Astor House was the preferred hotel for celebrities,
politicians and writers as well as the well-heeled traveler. On February 16, 1853 President-Elect Franklin
Pierce arrived at the Astor House. He
had notified the manager, Charles Stetson, that he wanted no excitement,
reception or crowds. The New York Times
noted “He expressed himself in plain terms on this subject, and said if his
desire was not complied with, he should take the first train South, en route to
Washington.”
Pierce’s name would be added to the list of White House
residents to stay at the Astor House:
Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, James Polk, Martin Van
Buren among them. The Prince of Wales,
the Grand Duke Alexis, the Prince de Joinville, Louis Kossuth, Horace Greeley
and Admiral Farragut were guests. Sam
Houston, Jefferson David, Henry Clay and Charles Dickens slept here.
When Jenny Lind stayed here, adoring crowds unleashed the
horses from her carriage and pulled it from Castle Garden to the hotel by hand.
But Daniel Webster was perhaps the name most closely
associated with the hotel. Webster would stay at no other hotel and
Stetson always vacated the finest suite in the house upon hearing of his
arrival. Webster wrote to a friend in 1849 "If I were shut
out of the Astor House I would never again to go New York.” Throughout the years Webster never paid for his
rooms—a parlor, dining room and bedroom--despite his repeated attempts.
It was here in 1852 that Webster received the news that he
had been defeated for the Whig candidacy by Millard Filmore. Still wearing his dressing gown and slippers,
he told the delegates John C. Calhoun and Silas Wright, “Gentlemen, my public
life is ended…When perilous times come to you as come they will you will mourn in bitterness of spirit your craven conduct and your base ingratitude. Gentlemen, I bid you a good-night.”
The following day Webster said good-bye to Charles
Stetson. According to The New York Times
he said “Farewell, old friend. We have
known and loved each other for more than thirty years. You will find a little present from me in the
office.” Two weeks later Daniel Webster
was dead.
Charles Stetson would have no one else sleep in the suite of
rooms used by Webster. He turned two of
the rooms into a ladies’ dining room and took the bedroom for himself.
Harper's Weekly published a drawing of Lincoln addressing the crowds in 1861 from the entrance pediment. |
The hotel had been updated in 1862, including an elevator. The Times reassured readers that “Otis’
improvements render this mode of traversing the lofty stories of the Astor
House as safe as it is agreeable cutting off every conceivable chance of harm
from the breaking of any part, by means of self-acting stops and the safety
drum at the top.”
Large windows were cut in the facade at the top floor and the furnishings and decorations updated. The New York Times raved about the improvements. "But gorgeous as are the frescoes and gilding, to our mind no art can rival the rich effects and infinite variety of Nature, displayed in the grain of choice woods on the walls of the principal drawing rooms." Writing of the "six or eight rich woods," the reporter praised "the grains of which are utterly inimitable by art, and until this very season had been of too extravagant cost for practical use."
Large windows were cut in the facade at the top floor and the furnishings and decorations updated. The New York Times raved about the improvements. "But gorgeous as are the frescoes and gilding, to our mind no art can rival the rich effects and infinite variety of Nature, displayed in the grain of choice woods on the walls of the principal drawing rooms." Writing of the "six or eight rich woods," the reporter praised "the grains of which are utterly inimitable by art, and until this very season had been of too extravagant cost for practical use."
In 1906 a “ghost dance” was held in the ballroom. The ball celebrated the early days of the hotel and only those families who were around in the 1830's were included. “Its invitation list is to include the old-line aristocracy of New York, and its tone is to be exclusive,” said The New York Times. The guests, including Roosevelts, Hamiltons, Fishes, Clintons, de Peysters, Schuylers and Schermerhorns, were instructed to wear only costumes from 1836.
The grand entertainments and the luncheons under the rotunda would
not last much longer. On May 3, 1913
signs were posted in the corridors announcing that the hotel would close on
Thursday, May 29. The hotel was owned
by feuding cousins William Waldorf Astor and Vincent Astor—Vincent owning the
southern half and William the northern. Vincent
Astor had sold his share of the property when impending subway excavations
threatened its stability. Obviously, the
other half would have to go as well.
Albert C. Kaufmann had been head waiter of the hotel for
nearly 45 years when the notice was made.
He reminisced to a New York Times writer about the notable men he had
served. General Grant had a favorite
table overlooking St. Paul’s and had a “weakness for roast beef.” Chester A. Arthur preferred lamb chops and
Grover Cleveland’s favorite was mutton chops.
Like Grant, Garfield always ordered roast beef.
The auction of the hotel's contents was advertised across the facade in 1913 -- photo Library of Congress |
On May 29 Vincent Astor received a petition with over 5,000
signatures; a desperate plea from New Yorkers to save the venerable hotel. Astor was unmoved.
“Despite the petition, however,” said The New York Times, “the
old hostelry, bar and restaurant were closed at midnight last night and it was
said that it was for the last time.
Every patron was turned out.”
On June 10 the auction of the furnishings began. Along with the items was the 108-year old
Chinese bridal bed, a famous fixture of the house. Carved of ivory with inlaid wood, it was said
to have originally cost $2,500.
Crowds rush by in December 1913 as a piece of American history is destroyed -- photo Library of Congress |
seems like preservaton of venerable historic places in this country has always been on the back burner
ReplyDeleteThanks for this lucid and thorough account of a demolished New York City landmark.
ReplyDeleteReally a great informative post..Very glad to know about these old New York hotels..
ReplyDeleteI had always read that subway construction (for the BMT Broadway line) doomed the building. Was it possible to save the building during subway construction?
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDeleteHi, sorry I must have mixed up my information on the ASTOR HOTEL in MANHATTON, NY because I read online information that stated there was a farm on top of the ASTOR HOTEL for the customers Convenience. I also seen photos of the inside and outside of the HOTEL as well.
ReplyDeleteI know that Andrew Jackson stayed at the American Hotel at 299 Broadway when he visited NYC in June 1833. I was unaware he had ever stayed at the Astor House, which was build towards the end of his second term. Does anyone know when that was?
ReplyDeleteHe apparently stayed in the Astor House more than once. In its June 14, 1913 issue, "Our Paper" wrote, "Andrew Jackson was a regular guest."
Delete