A NEW YORK LEGEND: THE WALDORF-ASTORIA HOTEL

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was built in 1929-1931 as a successor to the old Waldorf-Astoria hotel at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building.
Designed by the renowned hotel architects (Sherry Netherland, Pierre) Schultze & Weaver, the 47-storey new hotel cost $42 million and was the largest in the world at the time of its completion. Crowning the luxurious and monumental hotel (2,200 rooms occupying a whole city block), the twin Waldorf Towers rise to 190.5 m, high above the 20 floors of the main hotel building.

The private apartments of the Waldorf Towers, which has its own entrance on 50th Street, has seen many famous tenants from the Duke of Windsor and Douglas MacArthur to "Lucky" Luciano. The presidential suite at the 35th floor has been the traditional staying place of the President of the United States while in New York City. Building's base is of granite facing, and the upper facade is clad in brick and limestone. The towers are topped with stylized bronze-clad cupolas.

There are a number of lobbies running through the building, decorated with murals, and the Park Avenue lobby has the floor mosaic The Wheel of Life by Louis Rigal. The 3 m high clock in the central lobby originated from the 1893 Chicago World Fair and was subsequently bought by the Astor Family for the old hotel. The clock's eight-faced base is decorated with portraits of American presidents and Queen Victoria and the quarterly chime sound is copied from the London Westminster Cathedral's clock tower.

The 53-meter long Starlight Roof was in its heyday in the 1930s and 1940s a high-society meeting place, from which also regular radio broadcasts were sent. The room occupies the Park Avenue side setback and has floor-to-ceiling windows extending along the whole wall, as well as an outdoor terrace. The 6 m high ceiling of the room is covered with a grille and -- giving the room its name -- originally had a retractable roof.

The large hotel ballroom, the place for prominent galas and promotional parties, is four storeys high and several smaller ballrooms are adjoined to it. In all, the hotel's ballrooms could accomodate 6,000 people. Built above the railway tracks leading to Grand Central Terminal, the hotel had also its own underground railroad siding and an elevator for direct entrance from private railway cars.