Throughout the nineteenth century, American cities experienced a great surge in tourism as they grew to become great metropolises. During the early 1800s, the tourist industry targeted wealthier people because this was the only group that could afford to travel for pleasure. After the mid-1800s, however, the middle class became interested in urban travel as well as they grew more prosperous and as the cities themselves became more accessible due to the usage of sight-seeing cars and trolleys. Essential to this transformation was the city guidebook, which changed the way people viewed American cities. First, they attempted to personify urban areas by characterizing them with unique “personalities.” Second, they emphasized the beauty of the city’s architecture, likening it to the natural splendor of the countryside. Third, the guidebooks tended to create for each city a “heroic history,” highlighting its importance in both local and national history. Lastly, they promoted trips to ethnic localities in these urban areas, downplaying the class and ethnic conflicts of the time. The city guidebook was a microcosm of the greater tourist industry, representing its nationalization and the rise of the American consumer culture­.^[1]

The city guidebook was an important development in the tourist industry and changed the way people viewed American cities. In the 1870s, companies published increasing numbers of these guidebooks. Based on the travel writings and urban descriptions from earlier in the century, they introduced new ways of approaching and getting around the city. City guidebooks distinguished tourists as a social group separate from city residents. This is because they allowed visitors to appreciate the city as a site of leisure without having to experience the aggravations of daily life.^[2]

Guidebooks attempted to portray a city as having its own distinct “personality,” which derived from its setting and manmade environment as well as the overall character of its citizens. Describing urban areas with respect to these aspects gave potential visitors a single, unique reason to travel there. For example, one author states, “Soaring skyscrapers, frenetic hustle, and up-to-dateness stood for New York and its residents.” ^[3] Therefore, if one wanted to experience these characteristics firsthand, then he or she would know to travel to New York City. ^[4] This personality became evident to tourists through the city’s fast-paced lifestyle, but during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909, New York wanted to present itself as a city of history and culture.

During the 1800s, city landscapes were seen more and more to be as beautiful as the natural scenery of the countryside. Guidebooks and postcards illustrated instantly recognizable skylines, which tourists were eager to view from the observation decks of tall buildings. Tourists were also able to get quick and closer looks at the architecture of a city’s buildings through new forms of mass transportation, such as the stagecoach. On Fifth Avenue, stagecoaches allowed visitors to gawk at the opulent mansions of some the city’s wealthiest residents. Though riding some modes of public transportation forced tourists to experience the social and physical discomforts of urban life (such as overpopulation), the tourist industry began to use sightseeing cars and trolleys. These vehicles were specifically designed for tourists.  They did not follow the regular routes of residents between work and home and instead brought tourists to popular landmarks and commercial areas. ^[5]

The formation of a heroic history and the romanticization of ethnic minorities also greatly affected the American perspective of urban areas. Many cities publicized positive aspects of the past and emphasized the prominence of their roles in the nation’s history. Furthermore, they downplayed class and ethnic conflicts in order to idealize their history and “peasantry.” By doing so, they attempted to become more European because American cities wanted to be on the same rich cultural level as Europe. ^[6]

Interest in creating a heroic history did not arise until after the Civil War. This event was the country’s first national tragedy and forced Americans on both sides of the war to reflect on their struggles and sacrifices. Later, Decoration or Memorial Day was established to remember those who died in the war. Furthermore, prior to the Civil War, the United States was too new for most Americans to think about their history. Some citizens could still remember the birth of the nation in the late eighteenth century throughout a large part of the nineteenth century. ^[7]

With the cultivation of a heroic history for major cities came the preservation of aging landmarks. While some people tried to cleanse and modernize city, others attempted to preserve historic buildings and other structures, and still others erected new public monuments celebrating significant moments and people from the past. Historical walking tours became popular because they taught tourists forgotten aspects of a city’s history. For example, one might learn on a walking tour the origins of the street names within a city. As a result of this effort to preserve cities, they were viewed as surviving artifacts rather than as mere locations or social organizations. ^[8] New York City in 1909, for example, attempted to preserve and celebrate its Dutch roots.

The city’s slums and ghettos were no longer seen as dangerous. Guidebooks for major cities noted companies specializing in slumming tours, which became more respectable fora broader range of people and therefore diminished the dangerous thrill that these less refined neighborhoods once offered. Residents of slums, who were typically immigrants, became commodities for the touring public. Guidebooks claimed that Little Italy and Chinatown were identical to actual cities in Italy and China, with the minorities who lived there representing natives from “exotic” countries. Americans were curious about these foreign cultures and, bored with American food such as plainly cooked roasts, boiled and fried vegetables, fried and baked cakes and breads, they increasingly ate in ethnic restaurants. The commercialization of ethnic slumming and the romanticization of minorities relieved the boredom and stress of wealthy white Americans. ^[9]

The structure of guidebooks transformed over time, reflecting the nationalization of the tourist industry as well as the emerging consumer culture. Earlier urban sketches were written from the perspective of aknown author who personally invited readers to experience the fine culture of a city with him. Such is the case with New Cosmopolis by James Huneker, a prominent American music writer and critic. This book describes his stay in New York and several European cities. Though it was published in 1915, it follows the guidebook format of the nineteenth century in which a well-known author invites readers to join him on his urban journey. ^[10] An editor or publisher compiled later urban handbooks with certain economic and social interests. He tried to promote a particular business within the city. Even later, handbooks focused more on the tourist and the city’s amusements and landmarks. They stressed the importance of efficiency to the reader in order that he might be able to make the most out of his traveling experience. Though these later guidebooks were more accessible to a wider public, the identity of the author decreased in importance. Instead, the publisher greeted readers with a generic and formal voice. ^[11]

One example of a city guidebook is the Historical Guide to the City of New York, which was compiled by Frank Bergen Kelley and published in 1909. The preface states that the book is “the result of prolonged efforts . . . to direct attention to the yet visible traces of earlier times which lie hidden within and are fast disappearing from the city today.” ^[12] Thus the historical fervor that came with the Hudson-Fulton Celebration of 1909 also affected New York’s guidebooks. The Historical Guide gives in-depth historical narratives of different areas within the city, such as the Battery, Wall Street, Union Square, and Murray Hill. Like this book, the next section of this essay will take the reader on a “historical walking tour” of 1909 Fifth Avenue, a road imperative not only to New York’s tourist industry, but also to the city’s history, culture, and its development as a metropolis.

Fifth Avenue

Fifth Avenue essentially began as a line on a map in the early nineteenth century. Before the avenue was laid out, it was a rough country roadway with wild flowers growing on the wayside and with otters and muskrats breeding in the marshes and ponds along its course. It originally had little significance until its increasing commercialism and culture created for Fifth Avenue a history and worldwide renown. Its history began with the old Dutch Brevoort family, and became richer when other wealthy families such as the Astors and Vanderbilts established their famous homes on the avenue. Other important landmarks on Fifth Avenue, such as the magnificent shops, opulent clubs, and elaborate hotels, associated fashion, high society, and culture with the avenue. By 1909, it was already known for its fine taste and decadence. One of the most sumptuous streets in the world, it became one of the favorite spots among both tourists and the elite in New York City. ^[13]

         History

Immediately after the Revolutionary War, the future for New York appeared dim. The city was poor and battered due to the battles fought by the British and American troops. Many of its citizens had sided with the Tories and left with the British troops after they evacuated the city in 1789. Despite this, New York experienced an explosion in its population and wealth in the beginning of the nineteenth century mostly because of its advantages as a port. As a result of the population increase, living conditions became wretched, with families packed into small apartment houses lined densely along the littered streets. ^[14]

In 1807, the City Council finally noticed that Manhattan was quickly spreading and decided to accommodate the spread by drawing out a new plan for the layout of the city. ^[15] Gouverneur Morris, Simeon De Witt, and John Rutherford were the Commissioners directing the design of the new map. They agreed that circular and star-shaped streets would enhance the city, but decided against these patterns because “straight-sided and right-angled houses are the most cheap to build, and the most convenient to live in.” ^[16] Furthermore, buildings in a gridiron plan would be easier to locate and to describe in official documents. This was a great departure from the vague geography of the oldest section at the southern end of the city. Determined to make New York an easier place to navigate, the commissioners drew lines for 12 avenues and 155 cross streets through the many swamps and hills throughout the island. ^[17]

On March 22, 1811, the commissioners issued their final map, which described the future layout of the city. The Commissioners’ Plan was initially met with skepticism because most people did not believe that Manhattan would grow enough to meet its expectations. The name Fifth Avenue was first seen on this map. From this time, it had a special importance because the commissioners chose it to be the divider between the east and west sides of the city. ^[18]

Meanwhile, however, a wealthy New York family was already established along the future Fifth Avenue. One author writes:

Old Henry Brevoort was the first man to live on Fifth Avenue. Nearly eighty years of age in 1824 when the avenue was laid out, he cultivated a farm straddling the crooked lane that would become Fifth Avenue. ^[19]

The Brevoorts were of Dutch origin and had lived on Manhattan since the 1630s, when they began cultivating the rocky and flooded soil. Henry Brevoort stayed true to his Dutch roots and practiced hard work and thrift. An excerpt from Gideon Tucker’s “The Old Brevoort Farm” emphasizes the Brevoorts’ Dutch background with a reference to Utrecht, a province in the Netherlands:           

A snug little farm was the old Brevoort
Where cabbages grew of the choicest sort;
Full-headed, and generous, ample and fat,
In a queenly way on their stems they sat,
And there was boast of their genuine breed,
For from old Utrecht had come their seed. ^[20]

Henry sold vegetables on what later became the corner of Tenth Street and Fifth Avenue and sold rare birds, though much of his wealth came from his land, located two to three miles north of the city, which increased in value as the city grew. Apparently “when he died in 1841 at the age of ninety-four, his landed property was estimated to be worth over one million dollars,” ^[21] making Old Henry Brevoort one of the richest men in the city.

The official opening of Fifth Avenue, or at least of its first neighborhood, was celebrated with a ceremony at Washington Square on July 4, 1826, which also commemorated the fiftieth birthday of the nation. The New York Evening Post announced the order of events for the celebration in their July 1st edition:

First, the horse artillery will fire a national salute at 7 AM. Second, his Honor the Mayor of the Committee of arrangements of the Corporation will be received at two o’clock at which time a return salute will be fired by a detachment from the sixth Brigade of Artillery. Third, at half past two, the Declaration of Independence will be read. Fourth, at three o’clock two roasted oxen and other refreshment will be served up for the citizens and the military under an arbor decorated in the appropriate manner for this glorious anniversary. ^[22]

The next day, the newspaper reported that high officers marched from the Battery to the new clearing, which was christened “Washington Military Parade Ground.” The 10,000 attendants feasted on beef, ham, and ale, which were laid across 400 feet of tables. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both passed away on the day of the grand ceremony, yet the news failed to report their deaths. ^[23]

Washington Square to Fourteenth Street

In the beginning of the nineteenth century, it was common for prominent citizens to live among commercial establishments, such as the warehouses and offices where they earned their source of income. However, around 1830, when the streets off Broadway such as Bond and Bleecker became more crowded, there was a shift in the attitudes of these affluent people. Thus they began to migrate uptown around Washington Square, which was located north of the convoluted streets that composed the older part of New York City and which marked the beginning of Fifth Avenue. After the opening of Washington Square, the surrounding streets were ready for the building of private residences. This neighborhood, located sufficiently far away enough from the more crowded area downtown, was known as one of the best in New York from the time of its construction. It was the first neighborhood built in the new area of Lower Fifth Avenue. It consisted of sophisticated houses built in the Greek revival style, which were occupied by mostly rich bankers, lawyers, doctors, and merchants who dealt in “whale oil, iron, tobacco, and sugar.” ^[24]

One of the first families to live on Washington Square was the Rhinelanders. This family settled in New York in the seventeenth century, when they imported chinaand glass. At the time, these commodities were in high demand because colonial America produced so little of each. Later, the Rhinelanders owned a bakery and then they became prosperous sugar merchants. However, like Henry Brevoort, most of the Rhinelanders’ fortune came from their farmland, which was located in the future Upper East Side of Manhattan. ^[25]

The neighborhood around Washington Square attracted other well-to-do citizens besides the Rhinelanders and their relatives. Despite their immense wealth, the inhabitants of this area chose to live comfortably rather than extravagantly. The home was the center of entertainment, or “the family castle,” ^[26] and social life did not usually extend further than a few blocks away from home. At the time, it was in vogue to be austere with money and while “Hospitality was genuine and whole-hearted, [it was] tempered by frugal moderation.” ^[27]  

While commercialism increased downtown, the region around Washington Square welcomed the arrival of the University of the City of New York, or what later became New York University, in 1831. The original structure, which was built on the east side of Washington Square, was Gothic and was meant to evoke thoughts of the historic academic institutions in Europe. The school was supported by the large donations of the residents of the area and the sons of these families were among the first students to attend it. However, the university was unsuccessful in attracting other students and, as a result, it had to rent out apartments in the academic building and chapel to architects and artists in order to support itself financially. By the end of the century, the academic building had become decrepit and was torn down in 1894. ^[28]

Where there were learning institutions, there were bound to be churches. Churches, creating a definitive connection between religion and education during the nineteenth century sponsored most schools. However, no institution in New York moved more than the city’s churches. As a neighborhood became more commercial, the value of the land increased. Meanwhile, residents moved to other areas, causing the congregations to shrink. Therefore, the churches sold their property and used this money to follow their members and reestablish themselves in another neighborhood. ^[29]

The Episcopal Church of the Ascension was one of the first churches built on Fifth Avenue. Located on the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Tenth Street, it was built in 1840 and consecrated on November 5, 1841. ^[30] According to one writer, several eminent American artists contributed some of their best work to this church, which was designed by Richard Upjohn:

Stanford White, the architect,designed a new chancel; Augustus Saint-Gaudens, the sculptor, adorned it with angelic figures; and Maitland Armstrong, a stained-glass artist . . . provided mosaics. The most important work was the magnificent painting of the Ascension by John La Farge, whichwas paid for by the Misses Rhinelander of Washington Square . . . . ^[31]

Like the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, the churches on Lower Fifth Avenue tended to attract the well-to-do, who demonstrated their generosity by funding these buildings’ artwork and decorations.

There was strict observance of the Sabbath each Sunday. In 1817, the city passed a local law that prohibited people from working, buying, or selling on Sunday, except in the case of fish and milk because of the rapidity with which these products perished. ^[32] Maurice reiterates that “the pioneers of the Avenue did not smile on the way to worship,” ^[33] which emphasizes the sobriety of the Sabbath. These unsmiling residents walked in “solemn processions” to mass at 10 o’clock in the morning, at three o’clock in the afternoon, and at seven o’clock at night. The city was completely silent throughout the day, except for the ringing of the church bells. Furthermore, city regulations allowed churches to draw heavy iron chains across the streets in order to prevent the noisy passing of stagecoaches, carriages and other potential distractions during this day of serious prayer and meditation. ^[34]

Churches were not the only historic landmarks in or near Washington Square. The most prominent monument in the area, and one of the most beloved in the city, is the arch in the square. On April 30, 1889, citizens celebrated the 100th anniversary of George Washington’s inauguration as President of the United States, an important event in New York City history. William Rhinelander Stewart, whose family lived in the neighborhood since its birth, planned the construction of a temporary arch for the public celebration. Designed by Stanford White (the same architect who assisted in the design of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension), the Roman-style arch was made of wood, but it was painted to look like marble. Because this brilliant white edifice impressed New Yorkers and gave the avenue a majestic entrance, there was demand for the erection of a permanent arch. ^[35] Richard Watson Gilder led a campaign to raise money for the creation of a permanent arch for the square^[36] and in May 1892, the marble arch was completed. In 1909, citizens of New York experienced another great explosion of civic pride when they commemorated the tercentenary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of New York Bay and the centennial of Robert Fulton’s invention of the steamboat. To celebrate the event, important structures such as the Washington Arch were decorated and illuminated with light bulbs. ^[37]

Fourteenth Street to Madison Square

By 1837, Fifth Avenue had been laid down through Twenty-third Street. While the area between Washington Square and Fourteenth Street quickly became the best neighborhood in Manhattan to live in, Fifth Avenue mostly intersected fields used for farming and grazing livestock above Fourteenth Street. ^[38] The region did not urbanize until 1847, when Madison Square Park officially opened. However, the legend of the land dates back almost two hundred years during the authority of Sir Edward Andros, who was the second English governor of the newly English New York. ^[39] In 1670, Sir Edward Andros granted to the free black man named Solomon Peters thirty acres of land between Twenty-first Street and Twenty-sixth Street. In 1716, Peters’ descendants sold the land to John Horn and Cornelius Webber. One hundred years later, John Horn II inherited the tract and in 1837, when Fifth Avenue was cut through to Twenty-third Street, John Horn II’s daughter and son-in-law still occupied the Horn farmhouse. The farmhouse remained at that site for two more years until it was relocated to the northwest corner of Twenty-third Street and became the Madison Cottage. ^[40] However, one author asserts that the land between Twenty-third Street and Twenty-sixth Street was actually a burial site throughout the eighteenth century. By 1810, an arsenal had been built there, but by 1825, it had been converted into a reformatory called the “House of Refuge for the Society for the Protection of Juvenile Delinquents.” The reformatory was the only building in the region and when it burned in 1839, the delinquents were transferred to another building on the eastern end of Twenty-third Street. ^[41] By this time, Madison Cottage, which was also known as “the Roadhouse,” showed the first sign of the square’s future vitality. Managed by Corporal Thompson, the Roadhouse had a genial environment and was a favorite gathering place of horsemen throughout the 1840s. Furthermore, the empty space once occupied by the reformatory became a playing field for the newly organized group of sportsmen known as the Knickerbocker Club. In this large square, the club played their own version of the English game known as rounders. One commentator states that the players “unique manner of hitting, running and chasing balls - the ‘New York game’ - spread through the country rapidly and changed its name to baseball.” ^[42] In 1845, the Knickerbockers wrote the first formal rules for the game and in June 1847, Madison Square Park opened to the public. The square was named after President James Madison, though his only connection to New York was that he lived on Cherry Street for a brief time in his life. ^[43]

After the park opened, splendid houses for the wealthy were built in the area, yet the neighborhood did not match the prestige of Lower Fifth Avenue because of the swift arrival of commercialism:

The upper classes of the city had been on a northward march throughout the nineteenth century, seeking refuge from the expanding commercial areas below 14th Street . . . . [Thus] Fifth Avenue was lined with costly private residences, private clubs, and churches, the magnificence of which increased as one moved farther north. ^[44]

Tourists, for instance, might encounter the Union Club, a private social club for men that was founded in 1836 and was originally located on Broadway. In 1855, it moved to Fifth Avenue and Twenty-first Street, which demonstrated the growing preeminence of the avenue. Named for the Union victory in the Civil War, ^[45] the Union Club was the first building in New York that was specifically designed to be a clubhouse, and “although the neighbourhood about it was changing rapidly, the old house wore an aspect of dignity.” ^[46] In the 1870s, it was known to be the wealthiest social club worldwide. ^[47]

The area above Eighteenth and Nineteenth Streets was highly commercialized. The Chickering Piano Company opened Chickering Hall on the northwest corner of Eighteenth Street in 1875. It had the dual purpose as a showroom for the company’s pianos and as a hall for concerts and other respectable public events. Alexander Graham Bell gave a demonstration of his telephone here in 1876. ^[48] Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein and Polish pianist Ignacy Jan Paderewski and other celebrated musicians performed concerts in this building in the late nineteenth century. Above Chickering Hall in the succeeding blocks on Fifth Avenue were many other piano firms such as Hardman, Peck and Company, Knabe, Waters, Everett, and Gordon, though these were not as famous as the Chickering Piano Company. ^[49]

Another important structure in the region was the legendary Fifth Avenue Hotel, which was the creation of Amos F. Eno. Eno came to New York from New England and became wealthy enough to afford a house near Washington Square. Here, he formulated his plans to build a hotel on Twenty-third Street. However, his desired location seemed too far away from the more commercial area downtown and as a result, his plans was referred to as “Eno’s Folly.” ^[50] Eno was not discouraged and opened his luxurious, six-story, white marble hotel in September 1859. The building included one of the first passenger elevators and a columned portico as the entrance. ^[51]

This expensive hotel surprised many people when it became a great success. The building was sleek and stylish, mostly due to the expertise of the experienced hotelier and the Fifth Avenue Hotel manager Paran Stevens. ^[52] Many important events occurred in this hotel. For example, Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency was ridden with scandal for years as a direct result of the suspicious plans that were made at the hotel during a political dinner. Moreover, an electoral vote recount took place here, giving Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency despite the fact that his opponent, Samuel J. Tilden, won 51 percent of the popular vote. ^[53]

Madison Square to Forty-second Street

As one walks past the Fifth Avenue Hotel and the cluster of piano firms, he will encounter the prominent Waldorf-Astoria. It was a sign that high society was moving further uptown on Fifth Avenue when the prominent William B. Astor, Jr. built his brick house on the southwest corner of Fifth and Thirty-fourth Street in 1856 and his brother John Jacob III erected his house on the northeast corner of Thirty-second Street two years later. Prior to this move, the Astors lived in the neighborhood around Lafayette Street east of Fifth Avenue. However, as it became unfashionable to live there, the younger Astor generation grew more ambitious. ^[54] This famous New York family certainly reached its ambitions when, from 1893 to 1929, their legendary Waldorf-Astoria on Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth was one of the grandest landmarks in the city. ^[55]

The story behind the Waldorf-Astoria begins with John Jacob Astor, who arrived in America in 1784 as a German immigrant boy and died in 1841 as the richest man in America. When John Jacob first came to New York, he tried to earn a living through various ways, such as beating the dirt out of fur skins. This job earned him two dollars per week. However, trading with Indians in Upstate New York, he saw that trinkets like beads and bright strips of cloth could buy him piles of animal fur. He soon learned that these skins sold extremely well in London and, as a result, he started his own business called the American Fur Company. ^[56]

John Jacob was hardworking and dedicated to money, so he pushed further into the untracked wilderness to find fur. By 1800, he accumulated a quarter-million dollars, then sought to increase his value by entering the shipping business and participating in the thriving China trade. He continued to venture into uncharted land, where he proposed the founding of his ideal city called “Astoria,” ^[57] though it was later taken over by the British. In 1834, when John Jacob discarded the American Fur Company, he was worth two million dollars. Having conquered the fur trade and shipping, his next step was to buy real estate in New York City, as well as the support of the city’s politicians. His already valuable property increased in worth because the politicians he controlled made sure that roads were built through his land. ^[58]

It was the land that John Jacob’s son bought, however, that established the Astors even more firmly in New York history. Near the end of the eighteenth century, John Thompson bought the farm on the future Fifth Avenue from Thirty-second to Thirty-sixth Streets for the price of 482 pounds. In 1827, William Backhouse Astor, the heir to the first Astor’s fortune (his older brother, John Jacob II, was mentally ill), bought a half interest in the farm for $20,500. ^[59] William had two sons - John Jacob Astor III and William B., Jr. The former had one son named William Waldorf Astor, who was named in honor of the German village where the first John Jacob was born. William Waldorf, a member of the New York State Senate, was spoiled and widely disliked. It was as a direct result of his disagreeable and pompous personality that the Waldorf Hotel was born. ^[60]

As a general rule of the time, the simpler someone’s name, the higher his or her rank in society. Thus William Waldorf entered into a long feud with his Aunt Lina, the wife of William B., Jr., because his own wife and his Aunt Lina competed for the name “Mrs. Astor.” ^[61] His aunt apparently won the prestigious title. When Waldorf’s father died in 1890 and his house on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-second Street became vacant, Waldorf decided to build a large hotel on the empty lot as an ostentatious show of revenge. The move was considered offensive because Mrs. William B., originally Caroline Webster Schermerhorn, was a very social descendent of an old, wealthy, New York Dutch family, and she could hardly entertain guests in her home when it was located next to a noisy hotel. When the hotel became popular and his aunt moved further uptown, his cousin, John Jacob Astor IV, decided to join him in the hotel business. As a result, John Jacob IV built the Astoria, which was essentially in the same building as the Waldorf, though it was five stories taller.^[62] One author writes:

John wanted to name his adjoining hotel Schermerhorn for his mother but William wouldn’t have it, so they called the new, taller section ‘Astoria’ for the dream city John Jacob I had hoped to develop as part of his fur-trading empire. ^[63]

The combined Waldorf-Astoria opened on November 1, 1897, and, with 1000 rooms, this double hotel was the largest in the world. Not only a hotel, it was also the favorite shopping place of royalty and foreign diplomats. Furthermore, distinguished business men such as JP Morgan liked to hold informal meetings here. This magnificent edifice was the center of New York social life, as the city’s wealthiest people began to host extravagant events in the hotel. In 1900, Harper's Bazaar wrote, “the fashion of New York and the Mecca of visitors . . . here is the chosen gathering place of New York society, which comes here to see and to be observed . . . .” ^[64]

Other aspects fundamental to the growth and fame of Fifth Avenue were fashion and shopping. The former center of shopping was located around Sixth Avenue and Nineteenth Street, but as commercialism moved north, so did the costumers, forcing business to weaken in that area. There, Benjamin Altman was a dry-goods merchant who owned a family store in the neighborhood. ^[65] His original shop, which opened in 1864, was situated on Third Avenue. “By 1876 he was widely known as a leader in the dry goods field” ^[66] as his business on Sixth Avenue prospered. Throughout the 1890s, Altman acquired bits of land on Fifth Avenue across from the Waldorf-Astoria, where he planned to construct a store large enough to cover an entire block. ^[67]

Altman’s store was built at a time when shopping increasingly became a leisure activity for women in addition to the search for necessary items. Some of the most expensive shops favored by the rich, many of which were devoted entirely to clothing, were located along the entire length of Fifth Avenue, but they were particularly concentrated in the area between Madison Square and a few blocks above Forty-second Street:

At 305 Fifth Avenue, C.F. Janson sold “rich fur” jackets, capes, and muffs. At F. Booss & Brothers, situated at 290 Fifth Avenue, between Thirtieth and Thirty-first streets, “seal coats [were] a specialty.” [Opposite] the Astor houses was Watkins . . . and around the corner at 32 West Thirty-second Street was Bergdorf and Goodman . . . . ^[68]

Thus began the proliferation of famous fashion stores on this wealthy thoroughfare, where both tourists and city residents shop for leisure and for necessary purchases.

Forty-second Street to the Grand Army Plaza

Moving further uptown along Fifth Avenue, one will find St. Patrick’s Cathedral, one of the most famous churches in New York and in America. Construction of the cathedral began on the east side of Fifth between Fiftieth and Fifty-first Streets in 1858. This land had been sold by the city to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese for one dollar. James Renwick designed the structure in the Gothic Revival style, based on the Cologne Cathedral in Germany. The largest ecclesiastical edifice in the city, St. Patrick’s was built in a neighborhood that lacked other tall buildings; thus it could be seen for miles. ^[69]

Prior to the construction of St. Patrick’s, the largest and most visually stunning churches in the city had always been Protestant, but the size, opulence, and Fifth Avenue location of St. Patrick’s immediately made it an impressive landmark. This shift in the emphasis on Catholicism from Protestantism demonstrated the major increase of immigrants and Catholics in the city’s population. ^[70] By 1908, there were 138 Catholic churches in the city, 183 private schools for boys and girls, and an estimated Catholic population of 1,200,000. ^[71] This was a major change from the time when St. Patrick’s Cathedral was erected, “when it is said that the Catholics of New York were not numerous enough to fill the small church of St. Peter on Barclay Street . . . .” ^[72] During the period between the 1880s and the early twentieth century, the neighborhood surrounding St. Patrick’s comprised the greatest wealth and financial power in the world.^[73]

One family that contributed to the wealth of this area was the Vanderbilts, whose prominence began with Cornelius “the Commodore” Vanderbilt. Cornelius was born in 1794 into a family of farmers and his first earnings came from his labor on the family farm. At the age of 17, he bought his first ferry. By 1811, the city was still relatively small, but homes were already being built across the rivers, making Cornelius’ ferry, as well as two others that he purchased, extremely profitable. Later, he invested in steamships, which earned him half a million dollars, and then in the railroad system, which multiplied his riches to several millions. By the 1870s, he was the wealthiest man in the United States. ^[74]

Cornelius died in 1877, leaving his 100-million-dollar estate to his descendants. Though he lived on a sizable tract just off of Washington Square, ^[75] by this time, the well-to-do were looking for residences further uptown past the commercial area between Madison Square and Forty-second Street. Upon Cornelius’ death, his family immediately began planning the construction of their townhouses on the blocks near St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue, seeming to have considered no other address. The first of the famous Vanderbilt houses was the double house built by William Henry Vanderbilt, Cornelius’ eldest son and chief beneficiary. The house was constructed on the west side between Fifty-first and Fifty-third Streets for William, his daughters Emily and Margaret, and their families. This property began as a farm, which the German immigrant Frederick Beinhauer bought in 1800. When he died in 1823, the land was passed along to several people until William eventually acquired it for his future home. In this house were the family quarters on the first two floors, the servants’ rooms on the third, and storage rooms on the fourth. The central hall was three stories tall. It led to the art gallery, which displayed the Vanderbilts’ extensive collection of contemporary French art and which was open for public viewing on certain days. The entire house was furnished with art pieces purchased on the family’s frequent trips to Europe. ^[76]

Soon William’s other daughters, Florence Adele and Lila, and their husbands joined the other Vanderbilts on Fifth Avenue. Their brother, William K. Vanderbilt, built his house on the northwest corner of Fifty-second Street at 660 Fifth Avenue. On March 26, 1883, William Kissam hosted a housewarming ball in his home. Prominent figures in New York society, such as the Astors, attended this extravagant costume party. William K., Jr.’s house was next door on the southwest corner of Fifty-third Street. His uncle, Cornelius II, occupied a house on Fifty-seventh Street, and it was the largest of the Vanderbilt homes. This series of Vanderbilt mansions extended six blocks along Fifth Avenue. One author states, “With ‘Vanderbilt Row’ from Fifty-first to Fifty-seventh streets and the houses of their kin scattered along the avenue and nearby side streets, the Vanderbilts made an impact on Fifth Avenue unequaled by the ‘cave-dwelling’ Knickerbocker families around Washington Square.” ^[77] To describe the wealthy families situated near Washington Square, which was once the best neighborhood in Manhattan, as “cave-dwelling” is a testament to the major uptown migration of affluence that occurred on Fifth Avenue.

Hotels were sure to follow these palatial residences and churches. One author affirms, “Approaching the Plaza, besides the churches, clubs, and the various houses associated with the name of Vanderbilt, there is conspicuous the cluster of great hotels.” ^[78] One of these hotels was the St. Regis Hotel, located on the southeast corner of Fifty-fifth Street and Fifth Avenue. It was built in 1904 by Trowbridge & Livingston, the architects of the B. Altman store approximately twenty blocks downtown. John Jacob Astor IV designated the St. Regis, named after the St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks, a favorite vacation spot for high society members, to be the showpiece of the Astor hotel empire in New York. It was nineteen stories tall, had 316 rooms, and had the impressive innovation in which guests were able to control the temperature of their own rooms. It was decorated lavishly, thanks to John Jacob IV’s wife, Ava Willing Astor. However, the best feature of the St. Regis was its location. In 1904, the neighborhood was still mostly residential and across the avenue was the famous Vanderbilt Row. ^[79] The hotel took advantage of its address by advertising its seclusion from the more commercial areas downtown in addition to its proximity to Central Park. In 1905, the St. Regis Hotel Company published a book dedicated to describing the opulence of the hotel and its various attractions:

The St. Regis covers a plot of 20,000 square feet, and at present is the tallest hotel in New York. Its location is well chosen, for, while situated in the heart of the best residential section of New York, on the city’s fashionable driveway and within four blocks of Central Park, it is easily accessible from all directions, and most of the city’s best stores, as well as the amusement resorts, are within easy walking distance. ^[80]

Apparently this advertising strategy worked because the hotel instantly became one of the city’s, and the world’s, grandest hotels.

The Plaza Hotel was another distinguished hotel in Manhattan. It opened in 1890 at the southeast entrance to Central Park, a few blocks north of the St. Regis, but the building was not impressive and was town down in 1905. Despite its nearness to the Park, its unsatisfactory appearance caused one harsh critic to state, “It was a huge barn and its disappearance was a matter of congratulation.” ^[81] The new Plaza Hotel was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, a descendent of an old Dutch family. Well-known for his talent and style, Hardenbergh attended École des Beaux Arts of Paris and also built the Waldorf-Astoria. ^[82]

The Plaza Hotel reopened on October 1, 1907 after an ostentatious press dinner held “in one of a series of elaborately decorated [rooms] with mirrors hung with brocaded old-rose satin and lighted up with innumerable electric chandeliers.” ^[83] In maintaining its extravagance, the hotel had 800 rooms and 500 baths, two floors devoted to dining, meetings, and balls. The food was delectable and the staff was committed to helping their guests. If one was temporarily out of funds, wanted to write a letter in Italian, or needed a safe place to store jewelry, the Plaza was there to help. The entire hotel was furnished with authentic tapestries and rugs from Europe, while other furnishings, such as the building’s Old English-style oak paneling, was meticulously copied to appear genuine. The Louis XVI-style marble, sumptuous carpets, and graceful chairs overwhelmed people in every room. Equally famous to the Plaza’s resplendence was its wealthy guests. One author writes, “. . . none of the hotels of the day had quite the same genius for spinning shimmering veils of glamorous publicity about itself as the Plaza had.” ^[84] This was greatly due to caliber of its guests, including eminent businessmen who had rooms reserved for their frequent trips to the city and the many affluent families who lived at the hotel while they waited for their new homes on Upper Fifth Avenue to be built. The first people on this guest list of permanent residents were inevitably Vanderbilts - Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt (the third son of Cornelius II) and his wife. ^[85]

In 1908, the Plaza Hotel was made even more appealing when its front yard became the Grand Army Plaza, a small public space designed by Thomas Hastings. ^[86] The Grand Army Plaza was actually composed of two plazas; each was a semicircle on either side of Central Park South. This design was inspired by the arrangement of the Place de la Concorde in Paris. The plaza was named in honor of the Grand Army of the Potomac, the Union Army in the Civil War. The northern half has a bronze statue of Nike, the winged goddess of victory, with Union General William Tecumseh Sherman, “whose 1864 March to the Sea through the southern states cut the Confederacy in half, effectively ending the Civil War.” ^[87] The famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, whose sculptures decorated the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, created this monument. One author chose to commemorate the “enormous wealth that flowed into New York during the period after the Civil War” ^[88] rather than the Union Army’s victory. He points out that to the right of General Sherman’s statue is the Plaza Hotel, which was known for its French Renaissance elegance, and to the left, the Metropolitan Club, another important New York landmark designed by Stanford White. North of the statue was Central Park, and south were Bergdorf and Goodman, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. ^[89] The Grand Army Plaza, however, was not complete until 1916, when the southern half was graced with the installation of the Pulitzer Fountain. ^[90]

Upper Fifth Avenue

As Fifth Avenue below Fifty-ninth Street filled with mansions, hotels, churches, and shops, the northern part of Manhattan was still in its natural state: “stony and waterlogged.” ^[91] Though the streets had been laid out in the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, the area uptown was not yet paved. Above Fifty-ninth Street, livestock, stray animals, and goats and horses still roamed the region freely. One author comments that it was astonishing that New York City, growing at such a fast rate, still had wild, undeveloped land just a few miles away. ^[92] Another author agrees, calling Fifty-ninth Street “the dividing line” between metropolis and farmland: “Before Central Park was laid out Fifty-ninth Street was the dividing line. Below, rich brown-stone; above, along the country road which was then Fifth Avenue, a waste, squalid . . . .” ^[93] The area above had rocky soil unfit for cultivation, swamps, and overgrown thickets. There were not only animals, but also mostly immigrant squatters who lived in shanties uptown. This was a stark contrast from the glorious mansions that were developing along Fifth Avenue overlooking Central Park, a series of residences that would later earn the name “Millionaire’s Row.” ^[94]

Before 1840, the area up to Seventy-third Street was a farm that belonged to Robert Lenox. He purchased the tract in the 1820s for 40,000 dollars. In his will, Robert bequeathed the farm to his only son, James. He urged his son not to sell the farm because he was convinced that a village would develop nearby and make the land appreciate in value. ^[95] Robert was right; a lot worth three thousand dollars in 1852 was worth one and a half million dollars in 1870. By 1895, when the mansions built in the area became increasingly extravagant, one commentator said that the amount of money the area represented was simply unimaginable. ^[96]