Although popularly imagined as wholly preoccupied with "
high society", for the first several decades of her married life, Lina Astor was principally occupied with raising her five children and running her household, as was typical of women of her class in mid-19th-century New York City. Due to an inheritance from her parents, Lina had her own money, thus she was far less dependent on her husband than most American women of the time. the present site of the
Empire State Building. It also neighbored his brother's family, who lived at
Beaulieu. Lina Astor was also a devout Episcopalian who maintained strong ties to New York’s Trinity Church. She and William Astor were married there in 1853 and remained active parishioners throughout their lives.
The Gatekeeper , 1890, painted in Paris and now held by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. This painting was placed prominently in Mrs. Astor's house; she would stand in front of it when receiving guests for receptions. In the decades following the Civil War, the population of New York City grew almost exponentially, and immigrants and wealthy
arrivistes from the Midwest began challenging the dominance of the old New York Establishment. Aided by the social arbiter
Ward McAllister, whose first cousin,
Samuel Cutler Ward, had married into the Astor family, Lina attempted to codify proper behavior and etiquette, as well as determine who was acceptable among the
arrivistes for an increasingly heterogeneous city. They were the champions of old money and tradition. Lina was the foremost authority on the "Aristocracy" of New York in the late nineteenth century. She held ornate and elaborate parties for herself and other members of the elite New York socialite crowd. No one was permitted to attend these gatherings without an official calling card from her. Lina's social groups were dominated by strong-willed "aristocratic" women. These social gatherings were dependent on overly conspicuous luxury and publicity. More so than the gatherings themselves, importance was highly placed upon the group as the upper-crust of New York's elite. She and her ladies therefore represented the "Aristocratic," or the Old Money, whereas the newly wealthy Vanderbilt family would establish a new wave of New Money.
Relationship with the Vanderbilts ball in 1902 The Vanderbilts, as members of socialite New York through the copious amounts of money that the family had earned rather than inherited, represented a type of wealth that was abhorrent to Astor and her group. Lina Astor found railroad money distasteful. For this reason, she was reluctant to call upon the Vanderbilt girls. In 1883, however, Astor was forced to formally acknowledge the wealthy socialite
Alva Erskine Smith, first wife of horse breeder/railroad manager
William Kissam Vanderbilt, thereby providing the Vanderbilts, the greatest "new" fortune in New York, entrance into the highest rungs of society.
Use of "Mrs. Astor" Until 1887, Lina Astor had been formally known as "Mrs. William Astor", but with Charlotte Augusta Gibbes's death that year, she shortened her formal title to "Mrs. Astor", as she was then the senior Mrs. Astor, the only remaining one in her generation. Charlotte's son,
William Waldorf Astor, felt that his own wife, Mary "Mamie" Dahlgren Paul, should be "the Mrs. Astor." With the death of John Jacob Astor III in 1890, William Waldorf Astor had inherited his father's share of the Astor holdings and, titularly, became the head of the Astor family. In his mind, this made Mamie "the Mrs. Astor." However, Mamie was eighteen years younger than Lina and lacked Lina's social power. His further attempts at challenging Lina's preeminence in New York society, however, were thwarted, and he soon moved with his family to England, where he later became a
viscount.
Waldorf-Astoria Hotel In retaliation for his aunt's intransigence, William Waldorf Astor had his father's house torn down and replaced by the first
Waldorf Hotel. The hotel was specifically designed to overshadow Mrs. Astor's mansion, which was right next door, in an attempt to overshadow her status with it. The Waldorf Hotel was thirteen stories tall and was built in the form of a German Renaissance chateau: it thus not only overshadowed Lina, but all other structures in the neighborhood as well. Mrs. Astor famously stated about the hotel, "There's a glorified tavern next door." The Astors' Fifth Avenue home and the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel were both eventually torn down in 1927 and 1928 to make way for
Temple Emanu-El and the
Empire State Building, respectively. ==Death==