Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor - Head of The Family: The Waldorf-Astoria

Head of The Family: The Waldorf-Astoria

Until 1887, Caroline Astor had been formally known as "Mrs. William Astor", but with her sister-in-law's death that year, she shortened her formal title to "Mrs. Astor", as she was then the senior Mrs. Astor, the only remaining one in her generation. Her nephew, William Waldorf Astor, felt that his wife should be technically "the Mrs. Astor", as he was the only son of Caroline's husband's elder brother, and he insisted Caroline resume use of "Mrs. William Astor". She refused, and the press sensationalized the family conflict and famously began referring to her as "The Mrs. Astor".

On the death of Caroline's brother-in-law John Jacob Astor III in 1890, William Waldorf Astor inherited his father's share of the Astor holdings and, titularly, became the head of the Astor family. His further attempts at challenging his aunt's preeminence in New York society, however, were thwarted, and he soon emigrated to Great Britain, where he later became a viscount.

William Waldorf Astor, in his absence, commissioned his mansion on Fifth Avenue and Thirty-third Street to be torn down. In retaliation for his aunt's intransigence, William Waldorf Astor had his father's house torn down and replaced by the first Waldorf Hotel. The hotel was specifically designed to overshadow Mrs. Astor's mansion which was right next door, in an attempt to overshadow her status with it. Caroline and her son, John Jacob Astor IV, first contemplated tearing down her house and replacing it with livery stables. The Waldorf Hotel was thirteen stories tall, and was built in the form of a German Renaissance chateau; and thus not only overshadowed Mrs. Astor, but all other structures in the neighborhood as well. "There's a glorified tavern next door," Mrs. Astor famously is quoted as saying. Until the opulence of the Waldorf Hotel revolutionized how New York socialized publicly, polite society didn't gather in public places, especially hotels. Unwilling to live next door to New York's latest sensation and public draw, Caroline and her son tore her house down and erected another hotel at its site, the Astoria, and soon the two hotels merged and became the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which was torn down in 1928 to make way for the Empire State Building.