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Waldorf Astoria
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Waldorf Astoria FAST FACTS

Name: Waldorf Astoria

Location: The heart of midtown Manhattan at 301 Park Ave., New York, NY 10022 (This is minutes from the famed Fifth Avenue)

Accommodations: 1,245 guest rooms, including 197 suites. The Waldorf Towers offers 101 suites and 79 deluxe rooms.

Affiliations: The National Trust's Historic Hotels of America

Facilities and Services: Four restaurants, five bars and lounges, fitness center, business center, shopping arcade, concierge services, 24-hour room service.

At its opening, the Waldorf Astoria was the largest hotel in the world.

 
 


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The initial restoration of the hotel's Art Deco treasures in the 1980s revealed a long-lost cache of exquisite artwork that had been covered up for decades, victims of the "modernization" craze that swept the country in the 1950s and `60s. Underneath a carpet in the Park Avenue lobby, for example, was the magnificent, 148,000-piece "Wheel of Life" mosaic by French artist Louis Rigal, whose 13 allegorical oil murals on the adjacent walls were hidden under heavy draperies. A dropped ceiling covered ornate mouldings and gold leaf decorations. Art Deco medallions, grillwork, and other adornments are found throughout the public areas.

With a pair of 42-story towers rising from an 18-story base, the Waldorf-Astoria commands a prominent perch on majestic Park Avenue. The entrance to the Waldorf Towers is just around the comer on East 50th Street, and there's another main portal on Lexington Avenue. Just a short walk away are midtown landmarks like Grand Central Terminal, Rockefeller Center, and St. Patrick's Cathedral, plus the smart shops of Fifth and Madison avenues.

One of the country’s more expensive overnights, the hotel properly called the Waldorf-Astoria is still a worthwhile Superior Stay for humble history lovers. Its story goes back to 1893 when the wealthy William Waldorf Astor opened his Waldorf Hotel on Fifth Avenue, attracting a monied clientele. William’s cousin, John Jacob Astor IV, opened a similar hotel right next door in 1897, drawing his well-to-do friends and associates. The two Astors linked their buildings with a corridor and the complex became known as the “Waldorf-Astoria.”

Commonly just called the “Waldorf,” the hotel wove its way into the social history of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Its staff claims it was the first hotel to introduce room service, to abolish the separate ladies entrance and to encourage frequent guests to make their suites permanent homes; the top 12 floors, called the Waldorf Towers, are made up entirely of residential suites. Some of the Towers’ residents have been President Herbert Hoover and five-star generals Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur and Omar Bradley.

The lobby's comfortable seating ensembles, accented with marble, dark wood, potted palms, and dim lamps, convey overtones of formal living rooms from a bygone era. The dress code stipulates that "T-shirts, tank tops, faded jeans, cut-offs, and casual hats are not permitted" in the lobbies and lounges.

 

     
 

 

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