The Gilded Age of the late 19th century is defined as a period of rapid economic growth, and few dynasties are as emblematic of the era as the Astor family.
With German roots and Italian ancestry, the Astors first appeared in North America in the 18th century with John Jacob Astor, who became one of the wealthiest people in history. Born in Walldorf, Germany, he moved to New York in the late 1700s, where he established a fur trading company.
Through his work as a merchant, as well as the illegal export of opium to China and massive investments in New York City real estate, he became the first multi-millionaire in the United States. He died in 1848 as the richest man in America, with an estimated net worth of around $20 to $30 million, equivalent to over $100 billion today.
© Getty ImagesSeveral of his descendants then multiplied his fortune; his son William Backhouse Astor Sr. became a real estate magnate and his grandson William Backhouse Astor Jr. — who was married to the ultimate society doyenne Caroline Schermerhorn Astor — notably expanded the family's famed property portfolio. Notably, his great-grandson John Jacob Astor IV built the iconic Astoria Hotel and the St. Regis in New York City, and another great-grandson, William Waldorf Astor, who built the original Waldorf Hotel, became the richest member of the family, with a net worth of over $100 million, well over $3 billion today.
The boom in capital that defined the Gilded Age also came with a surge in real estate, with families like the Astors as well as the Vanderbilts constructing and acquiring some of the grandest homes New York City (and beyond) have ever seen. "New York City historically grew north from its earliest days when the northern boundary was Wall Street," explains architect and historian Gary Lawrence. "Above Wall Street the city was mostly undeveloped pastures, farms and rocky out-crops. As the city grew, older established families or new families of wealth desired to live in pleasant quiet neighborhoods where they built homes."
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© Getty ImagesEventually those of the upper echelon landed on Fifth Avenue, a wider street where many families had bought land as an investment property. Among those was William Backhouse Astor Sr, "whose wealth was very concentrated in New York City real estate," Lawrence notes; he gave his sons, William Backhouse Astor Jr. and John Jacob III, a block of land from 33rd to 34th Streets facing Fifth Avenue.
"Both brothers built brownstone homes with a connecting garden between them, and Caroline, the wife of William, proclaimed herself the ruler, 'Queen' of New York Society," Lawrence explains. This sparked a feud with her nephew, William Waldorf Astor, the new head of the family following his father's death. "He feels that his wife, Charlotte Augusta Gibbes, should be the social leader, but Caroline prevails."
Below, a look at some of the famed Astor family homes, and the family feud that spawned from one of them.
34th Street Mansions (350 Fifth Avenue)
© Getty Images"Showing one’s wealth was looked down upon" in the Gilded Age, says Lawrence, and that is evident in Caroline Astor's first home on 34th street, an unpretentious brownstone built on a land gifted by her father-in-law. She and her husband William shared the plot with his brother John Jacob III; their homes were connected by a garden.
The understated Fifth Avenue homes were built in the 1850s, but in 1890, after a bitter family feud, William Waldorf Astor demolished his brownstone and built the 13-story Waldorf Hotel, which was completed in 1893. He did so to spite his aunt, whose home — once a peaceful retreat and the site of many luxurious parties for her notorious 400 index of high-society elite — became neighbors with noisy travelers. She held on living in the mansion for one more year.
The 34th Street home Caroline left behind was demolished and eventually also turned into a hotel, the Astoria Hotel, which subsequently merged with the Waldorf to become the original and iconic Waldorf-Astoria, before it was demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building.
The Mrs. William B. Astor House (840-841 Fifth Avenue)
© Getty ImagesAfter one year of living next to her nephew's hotel — and even suffering from a home invasion by a vagabond — Caroline moved up to 65th Street, still on Fifth Avenue, to a massive French renaissance-style château built by Gilded Age favorite Richard Morris Hunt. The Double Mansions, as they are sometimes called, were shared with her son, John Jacob Astor IV (who died on the Titanic in 1912).
© Library of CongressA domed vestibule gave way to a hall lined with busts of Astor's ancestors, which led to a great hall with a large cantilevered staircase. The home was arguably best known for its ballroom, the largest room in the house, spanning the entire rear of the residence and rising four stories high.
Beechwood (Newport, Rhode Island)
© Getty ImagesAre you even a Gilded Age family if you didn't have a mansion in Newport? While the Vanderbilts had the Breakers, the Astors had Beechwood. Originally built in 1853, it was purchased by Caroline and her husband in 1881 for $190,941 (approximately $6 million today) as a summer "cottage." They again hired Richard Morris Hunt to renovate and expand the property, including another massive ballroom to fit the famous 400.
Beechwood was passed down to two Astor generations before leaving the family in the 1940s, and since then it has been owned by a handful of different people; from 1981 to 2010, it was owned by Paul Madden, who opened it up for tours as well as charitable events, and in 2010, it was purchased by Larry Ellison for $10.5 million. He reportedly spent $100 million restoring the property, which is currently closed to the public.
Cliveden House (Buckinghamshire, England)
© Getty ImagesFollowing the Astor family feud between his father John Jacob III and uncle William Jr., William Waldorf Astor split the famed family between the U.S. and Britain, relocating to Cliveden House, a grand Italianate palace overlooking the Thames. It became a playground for the Edwardian elite, and eventually, after William passed it to his son Waldorf Astor and daughter-in-law Nancy Astor (the first woman to take a seat in the British House of Commons), it became an influential salon during the 1930s for political intellectuals known as the "Cliveden Set."
The Astors stopped living there by the late 1960s, when it was leased to Stanford University as an overseas campus; it now operates as a luxury hotel.
Ferncliff (Rhinebeck, New York)
© Library of CongressBack in the U.S., William Backhouse Astor Jr. also had a retreat up in the Hudson Valley, a 2,800-acre estate in Rhinebeck named Ferncliff, which he purchased in 1853. It included a 40-room mansion, carriage houses, and a private golf course, and the property had a working farm with dairy and poultry operations.
His son John Jacob IV expanded the estate with the help of Stanford White, another beloved Gilded Age architect, who added a sports pavilion containing one of the first indoor pools in the U.S.; it eventually became the home of his son Vincent Astor (1891-1959) and his wife Brooke Astor (1902-2007).
Ferncliff has since been split into different portions, some homes and others spaces donated to charity. In 2010, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton's daughter Chelsea Clinton held her wedding at Astor Courts, the restored sports pavilion turned residence.
Rokeby (Dutchess County, New York)
© Library of CongressAlso known as La Bergerie, Rokeby is among the oldest of the Astor estates, built between 1811 and 1815 for General John Armstrong Jr. and his wife Margaret Livingston in Dutchess County, New York. It entered the Astor family when the original owners' daughter Margaret married William Backhouse Astor Sr., son of John Jacob Astor, who purchased the 728-acre estate from his father-in-law in 1836 for $50,000. The Federal-style house was later expanded into a 43-room Victorian mansion, and it is one of the few Astor properties to have remained continuously in the family. Today, it operates as an artist commune and working farm.
