The Waldorf Astoria glitters again

For much of the 20th century, the Waldorf Astoria was the place “to see and be seen” in Manhattan, says Edwin Heathcote in the Financial Times. Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe and John F. Kennedy were among its guests, Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett performed in its Empire Room, and Cole Porter lived at the hotel for 30 years. Then Hilton Hotels bought it, and from the 1970s, the lavish art deco interiors were covered up, the great balls and galas were replaced with “high school proms”, and the old “sparkle” soon seemed lost for ever. But it has since been bought up by a Chinese insurance group and revamped to the tune of a rumoured $2bn. Last month saw the grand reopening – and I can report that the Waldorf Astoria is “glittering” again.

It all started in 1893, when that “Gilded Age powerhouse” William Waldorf Astor built the Waldorf Hotel at Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, and his cousin John Jacob Astor IV opened the rival Astoria next door. It was a “family feud” – but in 1897, the hotels merged, connected by an “opulent” corridor that was christened “Peacock Alley” by the press. In 1930, however, the hotel was destroyed to make way for the Empire State Building, and rebuilt at Park Avenue and 49th. In its new incarnation, it was the biggest hotel in the world – a 47-storey “behemoth” with two “coppercrowned” towers, 2,200 rooms and public spaces meant to match the “Roman grandeur” of Grand Central Station, nearby. It even had an underground rail spur, built for deliveries, but also used by President Roosevelt to arrive in his wheelchair.

Following its restoration, the rooms are fewer and larger and a bit bland. But the new restaurants are good, and the public spaces are simply “astonishing”, their art deco details exquisitely restored – especially in the Grand Ballroom, a 1930s “dream” with its “silvery metallic balconies”. For the first time in decades, it’s easy to imagine the “power and celebrity” that was once concentrated in this place.