Imagine ruling New York's high society from a gilded throne, only to face a tragic fall.
Hi everyone, Ken here, today we are exploring the many mansions of The Mrs. Astor! Make sure
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In 1830, Caroline Schermerhorn was born into an incredibly wealthy and prominent New York Family.
Her ancestors were some of the original Dutch settlers whom had arrived in Manhattan in
the 1600s and had held onto hundreds of acres of land on the island of Manhattan.
Her father was a shipping magnate worth the modern day equivalent of millions of dollars, and when he
passed away in 1850, she inherited a large portion of his fortune, making her independently wealthy,
something which was completely unheard of for an American lady at the time.
3 years later, she married William Backhouse Astor Junior, and though the Astors could not
lay claim to being original settlers in New York, they had been there for a long
time and were now considered Old Money with massive holdings in real-estate.
As a wedding present, William Astor Senior gifted the young couple a stately brownstone in the
newly fashionable neighborhood developing at the corner of 5th avenue and 34th street. The refined
residence was reserved in style with plenty of space for the young couple to grow their family.
Caroline spent much of her time here raising her kids with very little entertaining,
but that would all change when William Senior passed away and
left the couple 45 million dollars, the modern equivalent of 1.2 billion dollars.
Caroline now viewed herself as the matriarch of the Astor family and her husband as the patriarch,
assuming the title of The Mrs. Astor. Heading the family came with the expectation of entertaining,
and her cozy family oriented house needed a major overhaul to accommodate large parties.
She chose to leave the exterior with a quiet dignity mostly untouched,
but inside, the house transformed into a palace.
The drawing room was, shimmering in golden hues,
was gilded from top to bottom and fashioned in the rococo style.
The dining room was updated to the Louis the 15th style
and decorated with priceless French antiques.
But perhaps the most well-known room in this house was the
ballroom which replaced the family’s stables. The walls were covered in fine art with statues
and heirloom rugs sprinkled about the floor. All total, the ballroom could comfortably play host to
400 guests, which eventually became the number of people which Mrs. Astor and her good friend
Ward McAllister would deem suitable within high society, coining the term, “The 400.”
Of course, a family of such stature did not just entertain at their own home, they had
purchased Ferncliff Farm in Rhinebeck, New York, the childhood home of Mrs. Astor’s mother-in-law.
Then, just as Newport, Rhode Island was becoming the place to summer, Mrs. Astor
purchased Beechwood. The stately Italianate residence had been built in 1852, she hired
famed Gilded Age architect Richard Morris Hunt to completely rework and expand the mansion in 1881.
To best accommodate her social activities as the reigning queen of High Society, the Ballroom
at Beechwood was designed to host 400 guests. The rest of the rooms were lavishly decorated
with only the most fashionable furnishings of the time and guest could enjoy riding horses,
yard games, yachting and taking a stroll along the cliff wall as waves broke on the shore below.
When the 8 weeks of the summer season had come to an end, Mrs. Astor would
leave Beechwood for the year and return to her Brownstone Mansion which was now just down the
street from the newly completed Central Park. But not all was well at her home.
Her brother-in-law had torn down his house next-door to Mrs. Astor and built the Waldorf
Hotel which towered above the brownstone. It attracted the public, brining more people
to the ever expanding neighborhood. As more developers tore down mansions and replaced them
with skyscrapers, the area became too congested with crowds of people and the constant sounds
and smells of buggy-to-buggy horse drawn carriage traffic. After living in the house for 40 years,
she teamed up with her son, John Jacob Astor the 4th to demolish the brownstone
and build a hotel to compete with the Waldorf, which they named the Astoria.
Meanwhile, they hired architect Richard Morris Hunt to design for them the largest duo-mansion
ever built in New York City. Constructed in 1896 and designed in the Chateauesque Style,
the palatial duplex faced central park from the corner of 5th avenue and East 65th street.
On one side was Mrs. Astor’s home, and on the other side was her son,
John Jacob Astor the fourth’s home.
Entering Mrs. Astor’s side of the duplex,
you would pass through the vestibule to arrive in the grand stair hall,
where a sweeping marble staircase skirted the marble walls below a leaded skylight.
Guests would be escorted to the reception room to comfortably await the announcement of their host.
Then, if you were in her house for an informal event,
you might mingle in the drawing room, finished out with floor to ceiling
gilded wall panels and decorated with antique European furnishings.
Perhaps if you were paying a visit for a more intimate affair, you would find yourself
sitting at the dining room table, facing Mrs. Astor who sat in front of the statue of Venus.
But if you were there for a ball, you would find yourself in the largest room of them all,
the Ballroom. Rising 4 stories from the floor to the skylight, statuary took the place of corbels,
supporting the ceiling above walls which were covered in art. Out of sight, a minstrel gallery
was concealed in the mezzanine where live music would flow, completely hidden away from guests.
She enjoyed entertaining from her mansion until she tragically slipped down the marble staircase,
sustaining a significant head injury. From that point onward,
she rarely hosted any guests and was said to have spent her remaining days mostly confused.
In October of 1908, she permitted an interview with the Delineator in which she was quoted as
saying, “I am not vain enough to think New York will not be able to get along very well without
me. Many women will rise up to take my place. But I hope my influence will be felt in one thing,
and that is in discountenancing the undignified methods employed by certain New York women to
attract a following.” Words spoken over 100 years ago which are still relevant to this day.
Unfortunately, she passed away later that month from the complications of her injury.
The duo mansion passed to her John Jacob Astor the 4th who made significant changes to the home,
essentially joining both sides of the house. It’s interior spaces became grander than
ever and the house was once again filled with guests for lavish parties and balls.
Beechwood was also left to him, where he remarried in the ballroom.
Unfortunately for John Jacob, he was aboard the Titanic when it sank. The Astoria merged with the
Waldorf to become the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, and the two mansions were left to his estate.
Over time, the Waldorf-Astoria was torn down and replaced with the Empire State
building and the duo mansion was replaced by the Temple Emanu-El.
Beechwood, however, passed down through the next generation before being sold out of the family.
Today, it continues to stand, serving as a private residence.
If you ever find yourself walking down the streets of New York, you won’t find Mrs. Astor’s Mansions,
but you won’t be able to escape her legacy in shaping the city.
If you enjoyed this video, check out this playlist where we take a deeper look into
each of Mrs. Astor’s Mansions with more photos and more in depth history for each. Also,
let me know which mansion was your favorite down below in the comments section and don’t
forget to hit that subscribe button so you never miss an exciting episode of "ThisHouse"