Another Battle Circles the Waldorf-Astoria
Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects /Artwork: designslinger]
A conflict has arisen between developers, politicians and neighbors in Beverly Hills. Two
weeks from today on November 4th, voters in the 90210 area will decide if they want a Waldorf-Astoria
Hotel, along with upscale condominiums, built at the intersection of Santa Monica and Wilshire Boulevards. The famed Beverly Hilton Hotel, once owned by Merv Griffin, currently occupies the site and would be incorporated into the new plan. The residents are concerned about the density of the proposed project and the increased traffic that would result, pitting neighbor against neighbor, developer against developer, even the mayor against the former mayor. The ballot initiative, Measure H, will decide the fate of the development.
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel 5th between 33rd & 34th Streets, (with Caroline Astor's former house outlined in red),
NYPL Digital Gallery; Waldorf-Astoria Hotel & Towers, Park Avenue & 50th nyc-architecture.com/Artwork:designslinger]
This is not the first skirmish in the history of the Waldorf-Astoria. The hotel started in a
battle of wills between a discontented nephew and his overbearing aunt. In 1890, William Waldorf Astor decided to demolish the house he had inherited from his father, John Jacob Astor III. Waldorf, as he was known, was the eldest son of the eldest son, and upon his father's death assumed that his wife would finally become the reigning queen of New York society. Waldorf's aunt Caroline, The Mrs. Astor, had been the unquestioned monarch of the upper classes since the 1870s, and was in no mood to relinquish her throne to anyone, especially her nephew's wife. The house in question sat at the northwest corner of 33rd Street and 5th Avenue. Caroline's house sat across an adjoining yard at the southwest corner of 34th Street and 5th. Her husband William, along with his brother John III, had built their homes on rural 5th Avenue in the 1850s.
Waldorf had decided that New York, and the U.S., were no longer his cup of tea. He could
find a better life and social status by moving to England. So, he hired architect Henry J. Hardenbergh to design the most luxurious hotel in New York which would be built out to the lot line of his father's half of the property. And so rose the 13-story Hotel Waldorf, completely overshadowing his aunt's house and her famous ballroom. But, Aunt Lina was already done with the lower portion of 5th Avenue which was turning from a wealthy residential community into a crass commercial strip. She and her son, John Jacob Astor IV were looking at another Astor property on 5th at 65th Street, across from Central Park, to build a big new house that they would share. John Jacob was planning on building a large stable facility on his mother's 34th street property to spite his cousin, when the Astor business sense got the better of him. John opened the Astoria Hotel in 1897 and soon the cousins realized that more money could be made by joining the two buildings, and the Waldorf-Astoria was born. By the late 1920s, the hotel was on its last legs, and so the brand new, ultra-modern and terribly chic, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and Towers was built on Park Avenue. The old hotel was demolished and the Empire State building rose on the site.
Artwork: designslinger]
The Hilton Hotel's Waldorf-Astoria luxury brand may also be coming soon to Chicago.
The planned hotel and residential tower will be located along the river just east of Michigan Avenue. If built, it will be one of the tallest buildings on the skyline at over 100 floors. Work on the project is scheduled to begin in 2009 with a completion date in 2012. The site of the sleek glass tower sits just east of the Chicago Spire, another proposed height-busting skyscraper. Residents of the surrounding Streeterville community voiced concerns about the size and scope of the high-rise hotel, but the project was not met with the acrimony of the Beverly Hills proposal. All that's missing in this current battle are a disgruntled nephew and his indomitable aunt.
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