The Tragic Story of The Original Waldorf-Astoria: The Hotel That Destroyed Fifth Avenue скачать в хорошем качестве

The Tragic Story of The Original Waldorf-Astoria: The Hotel That Destroyed Fifth Avenue

When the Waldorf-Astoria opened in 1893, it wasn't just a hotel—it was the weapon Caroline Astor's nephew used to force her out of her Fifth Avenue mansion, setting off a chain reaction that destroyed the entire neighborhood's residential character. Mrs. Astor retaliated by building an even bigger hotel next door, creating the massive Waldorf-Astoria complex that attracted so much commercial traffic that every mansion on Fifth Avenue became worthless within 20 years. By 1929, the hotel's success had killed the very society it was built to serve, and in 1931 it was demolished for the Empire State Building—the instrument of Fifth Avenue's destruction destroyed by its own success.