Large Collection of Professional Photographs of the Astor Hotel in Times Square

[New York]

Published by 1904-c.1950s, New York, 1904

About this Item

Collection of 182 b/w or sepia photographs (silver prints); ranging in size from about 7x9 to 11x14 inches; mounted in two albums, or loose, sometimes with heavy cardstock mount or paper backing (from having been removed from an album, see below); offers exteriors views of the hotel from construction to completion, and interior views of private and public rooms in the hotel, from its construction in 1904 to a later remodel in perhaps 1935 (the hotel was remodeled again in 1949, but these images don't seem to extend that late -- there are just a few images showing the Sheraton-Astor, when it was briefly bought and renamed in 1954). The collection breaks down as follows: Large album of 42 mounted photographs from around the newly-opened hotel, circa 1904, almost all credited in mount and negative to Joseph Byron of New York, a few to Drucker & Co. (half morocco oblong folio; lacking front board, several photographs removed ) /// Large album of 33 later Hotel Astor photographs, c. 1933, linen-backed, signed in the negative by "Byron Co." /// 12 large Byron photographs of the hotel, about 11x14 inches, most mounted, most worn and/or faded /// Disbound album of 28 Drucker & Co. photographs of the hotel, some showing second-phase construction, 1908 and undated /// Group of 67 8 x 10 inch photographs of the hotel, some of them after being renamed the Sheraton-Astor in 1954, by William F. Howland (20), Empire Photographers (10), and miscellaneous or unknown photographers (37), circa 1920s-1950s. Built at a cost of $7,000,000 on land leased from William Waldorf Astor (great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, the fur trader), the 11-story, 35,000-square-feet Hotel Astor was designed in the French Renaissance "Beaux Arts" style by architects Charles W. Clinton and William H. Russell, who imitated many features from the old Waldorf-Astoria on 34th Street. The Hotel Astor opened in September 1904, dazzling guests with its enormous public rooms, most decorated with themes. A year later the elaborate roof garden was opened. The former site of the hotel, the block bounded by Broadway, Astor Plaza, West 44th Street, and West 45th Street, is now occupied by the high-rise 54-story office tower One Astor Plaza. Seller Inventory # D12720

Bibliographic Details

Title: Large Collection of Professional Photographs...

Publisher: 1904-c.1950s, New York

Publication Date: 1904

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good+

Signed: Signed by Author(s)