Why was the Waldorf-Astoria hotel built because of a feud? The Waldorf-Astoria hotel was built because of a dispute over who should be able to use the name “Mrs. Astor”.
The original Waldorf-Astoria hotel doesn’t exist anymore. It was knocked down in 1929 and the land was sold to the Empire State Inc, a group of wealthy investors that built the Empire State Building. The Waldorf-Astoria had been the tallest and the most popular hotel in its day, but times had changed. The Gilded Age was ending, the Great Depression was hitting, and the fashionable part of New York had shifted from Fifth Avenue, where the hotel was built. A new Waldorf-Astoria was built on Park Avenue and opened in 1931. The hotel was bought by the Hilton Group in the 1940s, but today it is owned by Deija Insurance Group, sort of working for the Chinese government. The hotel has been rebuilt as part condominiums and part hotel. The condominiums are being sold and the hotel has partly opened as you read this (summer 2025), but the work hasn’t finished yet. An interesting state of affairs for an interesting building.
The Waldorf-Astoria hotel didn’t start out as a double barreled name hotel. It was only the Waldorf hotel, and it was half the size of the final hotel. It was built by William Waldorf Astor in 1893. He basically built it to annoy his aunt, which has to be one of the best reasons to build a hotel ever.
The Astor family goes back hundreds of years, but the Waldorf part comes from John Jacob Astor, 1724 to 1816. He was born in Waldorf, Germany, and he moved his family to London in 1778. They often use the name Waldorf as a middle name because of where they came from. He started a flute making company and then moved his family to Baltimore, leaving his brother in London. John Jacob became a woodwind dealer to begin with, but soon branched out into trading fur and other things, before moving up to real estate. He became wealthy. Interestingly, his brother in London also became wealthy and the Astor family had a lot of power and influence on both sides of the Atlantic. The Astor family in New York started buying up land, some of which would be used to build the hotel.
Long before the hotel was built, the Astor’s built houses on the land that they owned. John Jacob Astor had five children that survived past childhood: Magdalena Astor, John Jacob Astor Jr, William Backhouse Astor Sr., Dorothea Astor, and Eliza Astor. When the original John Jacob Astor died, William Backhouse Astor Sr. inherited everything because John Jacob Astor Jr was mentally unstable. Here’s where it starts to get a little complicated because they all seem to have similar names. William Backhouse Astor Sr. had 6 children that survived past childhood: Emily Astor, John Jacob Astor III, Mary Alida Astor, Laura Augenia Astor, William Backhouse Astor Jr, Henry Astor III. William Backhouse Astor Jr and John Jacob Astor III built mansions next to each other on Fifth Avenue. William Backhouse Astor Jr married Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (this is important) and they lived in their house. John Jacob Astor III inherited the Astor business and he had a son called William Waldorf Astor. William Waldorf Astor married Mary Dahlgren Paul (this is also important). When John Astor III died, William Waldorf Astor inherited the business from him.
Right. So, what happened? This was the Gilded Age and money, prestige, and appearances were more important than anything else. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor prided herself on being the most important socialite in New York. John Jacob Astor III’s wife was styled Mrs. Astor, as you would expect. He had died and William Waldorf Astor had inherited the business, but John III’s wife was still Mrs. Astor. When she died, the problems started. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor wanted to call herself Mrs. Astor because she was the oldest of all the Astor women. William Waldorf Astor’s wife thought she should be called Mrs. Astor, because her husband was the head of the business and therefore the head of the family. Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor started calling herself Mrs. Astor in public, so William Waldorf Astor had the best revenge I have ever seen. He pulled down his mansion, which was next to Caroline’s mansion, and built a hotel. He called it the Waldorf Hotel.
The hotel was 13 stories high and it dwarfed Caroline’s mansion next door, as was the plan. It also became a magnet for society. It had luxurious ballrooms and restaurants that attracted the cream of society and changed how wealthy people socialized. The hotel became very popular, which annoyed Caroline even more. William Waldorf Astor was satisfied and went to live in England, where he ended up becoming a citizen. Caroline continued to live in her house for a few years before she gave up and moved to a much larger house with her son, John Jacob Astor IV. Because William Waldorf Astor had become British, John Jacob Astor IV was now the head of the Astor family and he decided to build a hotel on the land his mother’s house occupied. A truce was called and the two hotels were united into one, which became the Waldorf-Astoria. And this is what I learned today.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Backhouse_Astor_Jr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Schermerhorn_Astor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor_IV
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf-Astoria_(1893%E2%80%931929)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_Astoria_New_York
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Backhouse_Astor_Sr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_family
Image By Unknown author – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33082323