07/18/2025
The historic Waldorf Astoria reopened this week, after 8 years and billions of dollars of restoration. Here’s my photos from a visit yesterday.
The Waldorf Astoria was completed in 1931, designed by Schultze & Weaver (the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill oversaw the modern restoration). It takes up a full city block, and is a 47-story, 625 ft (191 m) Art Deco landmark. An earlier hotel complex of the same name predated it, where the Empire State Building is.
This hotel was beloved as the grandest hotel in New York, and attracted everyone from celebrities to heads of state and beyond.
Hilton acquired the hotel in 1977. A Chinese firm purchased it in 2017, announcing a plan to convert much of the building into luxury condominiums. That firm went bust, and sold it to Dajia Insurance Group (also a Chinese firm). Hilton still manages the hotel part of the building.
Originally nearly 2,000 rooms, the building is now divided between 375 large hotel rooms (on the lowest 18 floors) and 372 condos above. Hotel rooms start at $1,500 a night; condos start at $1.875 million for a studio and up to $18+ million for larger units. The hotel portion still maintains public restaurants and bars.
I was asked on my Art Deco tour yesterday if it looked the same as before. My first thoughts were... the same, but upgraded. Many of the original details are here, with modern editions designed in a Deco style to blend in with the 1931 fixtures and details. One detail of note is the The Waldorf clock, originally commissioned by Queen Victoria for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and a feature of the hotel since its first days on 34th Street, now restored. Just feet away from that is Cole Porter’s piano.
A detail you will see upon entering from Park Avenue is the “Wheel of Life” marble floor mosaic, made from 148,000 pieces of stone, by the French artist Louis Rigal, who also painted the series of murals that form the frieze along the walls.
Pop in soon, and see this restored landmark for yourself.
