Waldorf Astoria Doors Removed

Does anyone know how and why these were removed from a heritage building?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waldorf-Ast...342?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a27e299b6

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Waldorf-Ast...682?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a27d99a5a

"It's old, who cares?"

That's why. People don't give a damn.

There is nothing in statute law to prevent the owner of a "heritage" building from doing as he pleases. It is, after all private property and this is a free country.

According to this site:

http://www.nyc-architecture.com/TEN/TEN-NY.htm

The Waldorf Astoria is a listed historic landmark:

"Waldorf=Astoria Hotel and Park Avenue with Helmsley Building and Met Life Building in backgroundThe Waldorf-Astoria Hotel is a famously luxurious hotel in New York. It has been housed in two historic landmark buildings of New York City. The first, designed by architect Henry J. Hardenbergh, was on the Fifth Avenue site of the Empire State Building. The present building at 301 Park Avenue in Manhattan is a 47-story, 625 ft. (191 m) Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze and Weaver that dates from 1931 and is now part of the The Waldorf=Astoria Collection, a chain of very upscale hotels consisting of hotels previously of the Hilton Hotels and Conrad Hotels chains, as well as some new hotels.

The name, Waldorf=Astoria, now officially appears with a double hyphen, but originally the single hyphen was employed, as recalled by a popular expression and song, "Meet Me at the Hyphen."

The modern hotel has three American and classic European restaurants, and a beauty parlor located off the main lobby. Several luxurious boutiques surround the distinctive lobby, which has won awards for its restoration to the original period character. An even more luxurious, virtual "hotel within a hotel" in its upper section is known as The Waldorf Towers operated by Conrad Hotels & Resorts."

If it is true that this building is a historic landmark, then removal of significant features is problematic. I would suggest contacting DOCOMOMO-New York, which is a historic preservation organization that deals with modern architecture.

http://www.docomomo-us.org/chapters/new_york_tri_state

Tony

Stuff wears out and has to be replaced. The Waldorf just underwent a $300M renovation. I tried to find a post-renovation photo online but haven't as yet. I'd be very surprised if new revolving doors in keeping with the building's architecture weren't used. For that matter, the doors they removed may not have been original anyway. The WA is first and foremost a business - people don't want to spend big bucks staying in a down-at-the-heels hotel.

Nothing says "class" like selling off your discarded parts on eBay.

The double hyphen thing is kind of gauche too.

The Waldorf Astoria is now a pretty old hotel. Over the decades various parts of it have been remodeled in variouis ways. In the last couiple of years management has made a very public commitment to restoring as much of the hotel to its original glory as possible. They had a nice display in the front showing some of the improvements that had made, and they were impressive. In a process like this, however, there will be some parts that simply need replacing.
All in all, from what I've seen (and I went to a big event there just a couple of years ago) I think they're doing an admirable job of restoring ths grand old lady to her original splendor.

I wonder how legitimate the auctions are.

Am I remembering correctly some years back someone was trying to sell Grand Central Terminal post-renovation fixtures on ebay? Was a contractor or "friend of a friend" that acquired the items?

In renovations there are often orphaned building parts left over. Those revolving doors may well have been added some time after the construction of the building, and may have been replaced with swinging units copied form the original plans. Or not. The current management of the Waldorf has a very good reputation for incorporating the historic aspects of their building into their renovations, so absent a photograph of an obviously inappropriate modification I'd give them the benefit of the doubt.

One of my grandfathers was laid off when General Bronze (the former Tiffany Furnaces in Corona, NY) collapsed in the late 'Twenties. He moved to Cleveland, Ohio to the John Harsch company to supervise the bronze work for the Cleveland Union Terminal complex. When the terminal was being remodeled into "Tower City", back in the early 'Nineties I found that immense amounts of the bronze work form this building were ending up at a certain scrap yard, where I eventually purchased a couple dozen decorated doors and gates, several complete store fronts, call boards, stanchions and sign frames for a buck a pound. The architect of Tower City retained virtually all of the original lighting fixtures, and most of the signature architectural features, but the rather run-of-the-mill bits from the old commercial arcade, one of the banks, and the train specific stuff he just couldn't seem ot work in to a coherent design.

What a shame. Back in the late 70's I worked at the Waldorf doing sound, lights, and setting up equipment for conventions and big to-do's. Walking into our office, up above the Grand Ballroom, was like walking straight into the 1930's. There were huge banks of old G.E. lighting equipment on the walls, all in burgundy laquer with gold Art Deco lettering and trim, and a "secret" closet from which we could sit and control the lighting down below. I loved that place.

That does it. I'm gonna go down there this week and see what they've replaced that revolving door with. I'll report!

dhermann1 said:

That does it. I'm gonna go down there this week and see what they've replaced that revolving door with. I'll report!

Click to expand...

Thanks I am intrigued... from Down Under.

So Cookie,

What was the response from DoCoMoMo?

Tony

OK, I was at Grand Central last week for the Centennial, and took a side trip up the block to check out the Waldorf Astoria. First of all, these doors are from the BACK entrance, the Lexington Avenue side. The main entrance doors (on Park Avenue) show no evidence of any change. The back doors do seem to have been replaced with stainless steel, rather than bronze, but trust me, they definitely don't look like crap. I don't know what the cost of bronze vs. steel would be, are even how doable it would be to fabricate them in bronze at all. But I wouldn't lose any sleep over these doors.
I went in and strolled through the entire ground level series of lobbies of the whole hotel, and it's simply stunning. Everywhere you look there are magnificent Art Deco details. Worth a visit if you're in the city.