Early poster of the Hotel Astor in Times Square - New York City (New York Architecture Images website)
Click on images to enlarge
Hotel Astor

1511-1515 Broadway, between 44th and 45th Streets
New York, N.Y. 10036
               
The Palm Garden in Hotel Astor (Times Square) - New York City (NYC Architecture Images website)  
The Palm Garden ("L'Orangerie")
 
The Hotel Astor was a venerable institution in the heart of Times Square for more than six decades. Plans for the grand hotel were conceived in 1900 by William C. Muschenheim and his brother, Frederick A. Muschenheim, at a time when the area—then known as Longacre Square—was beyond the fringe of metropolitan life. It would be a few years before the new subway would extend up Fourth Avenue, across Forty-second Street, and northward along Broadway. The New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs had moved the paper's operations to a new tower on 42nd Street in the middle of Longacre Square, and Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan, Jr. to build a subway station there and rename it Times Square. The theatre district would soon occupy magnificent new auditoriums along Forty-second Street, and electric lighting transformed this strip of Broadway into the "Great White Way."

  Postcard of the Roof Garden at the Hotel Astor (Times Square) - New York City
 
Roof Garden
Built at a cost of $7,000,000 on land leased from William Waldorf Astor (great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, the fur trader), the 11-story, 35,000-square-feet Hotel Astor was designed in the French Renaissance "Beaux Arts" style by architects Charles W. Clinton and William H. Russell, who imitated many features from the old Waldorf=Astoria on Thirty-fourth Street. The Hotel Astor opened in September 1904, dazzling guests with its enormous public rooms, most decorated with themes. A year later the elaborate roof garden was opened.

Postcard of Large Ballroom in the Hotel Astor (Times Square) - New York City  
Large Ballroom
 
The Large Ballroom (or Banquet Hall), located on the ninth floor, was opened with a dinner in connection with the Hudson-Fulton celebration. Measuring 50 feet wide by 85 feet long, the Banquet Hall was decorated in the style of Louis XV and featured a high groined arch ceiling in ivory white and old gold, supported by grouped caryatides. A gallery ran along the south and west sides, affording a fine view of the room, which could accomodate 500 diners. The smaller ballroom, seating 250, was decorated in the later Louis XVI period and could be joined with the larger ballroom as needed. Still another adjoining room, "The College Hall," could also be opened into the ballroom so that up to 1100 persons could be seated. The Palm Garden, or "L'Orangerie," located in the rear of the ninth floor lobby, was intended to represent an Italian garden. Its ceiling, painted to represent a Mediterranean sky, was partly concealed by vine-covered pergolas. Blue lighting, hanging lamps draped in vines, swaying fern baskets, and scenic pictures of the out-of-doors further enhanced the perception. The Hotel Astor was demolished in 1967 to accomodate One Astor Plaza, a 50-story office tower.
               
  Austin Organ, Op. 252 (ca.1910-15) in Hotel Astor - New York City (from Austin Organ Company Promotion Booklet, courtesy Jeff Scofield)
   
  Ballroom Console of Austin Organ, Op. 252 (1910) in the Hotel Astor - New York City
Austin Organ Company
Hartford, Conn. – Opus 252 (1910)
Electro-pneumatic action
4 manuals, 87 stops, 76 ranks
3 four-manual consoles (two movable)
      controlling all organs
Automatic player





In the photo at right of the balcony console, each manual has six pistons: one "release" (cancel) plus five adjustable combinations. To the left of the keyboards are four rows of five buttons; it is possible but not certain that these were the setters for Austin's primitive adjustable combination action.
               
AUDITORIUM ORGAN
               
Great Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes
16
   Major Diapason (w & m)
61
4
   Octave
61
8
   Principal Diapason
61
4
   Harmonic Flute
61
8
   Small Diapason
61
8
   Dulciana
61
8
   Viole d'Amour
61
8
   Vox Angelica [TC]
49
8
   Gross Floete (wood)
61
8
   Trumpet
61
8
   Doppel Floete (wood)
61
    
Harp  
8
   Claribel Flute (wood)
61
      
                
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Bourdon (wood)
73
4
   Flauto Traverso (wood)
73
8
   Diapason Phonon
73
     Dolce Cornet, 3 ranks
183
8
   Violin Diapason
73
2
   Flageolet (metal)
61
8
   Viole d'Orchestre
73
16
   Contra Posaune
73
8
   Echo Salicional
73
8
   Cornopean
73
8
   Viole Celeste
73
8
   Oboe
73
8
   Vox Seraphique [TC]
61
8
   Vox Humana
73
8
   Hohl Floete (wood)
73
     Harps [sic]
GT
4
   Violina
73
     Tremulant  

     

     
Orchestral Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Contra Viole
73
4
   Flute d'Amour (w & m)
73
8
   Geigen Principal
73
2
   Piccolo
61
8
   Dulciana
73
16
   Double Oboe Horn
73
8
   Concert Flute (wood)
73
8
   Clarinet
73
8
   Unda Maris (wood) [TC]
61
8
   Cor Anglais
73
8
   Quintadena
73
     Tremulant  
               
Solo Organ (Manual IV) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Violone (wood)
73
4
   Flute Overte (wood)
61
8
   Grand Diapason
73
16
   Tuba Major [unit]
85
8
   Melodia (wood)
73
8
   Harmonic Tuba * [ext.]
—
8
   Flauto Major (wood)
73
4
   Tuba Clarion * [ext.]
—
8
   Dulciana
73
8
   Orchestral Oboe
73
8
   Gross Gamba
73
8
   French Trumpet
73
8
   Gamba Celeste
73
    
Chimes
30 notes
4
   Principal
73
        
               
Pedal Organ – 32 notes ("Augmented")
32
   Magnaton [ext.]
12
16
   Bourdon (wood)
32
16
   Magnaton
32
16
   Lieblich Gedacht (wood)
SW
16
   Open Diapason (wood)
44
8
   Gross Flute [ext. 16' O.D.]
—
16
   Second Diapason (w & m)
GT
8
   Flute Dolce (wood)
SW
16
   Violone (wood)
44
8
   Violoncello [ext. 16']
—
16
   Contra Viole
OR
16
   Trombone
32
               
L'ORANGERIE ROOM ORGAN
               
Orchestral Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes, all enclosed
8
   Open Diapason
73
8
   Clarinet
73
8
   Concert Flute (wood)
73
8
   Vox Humana
73
8
   Viole d'Amour
73
     Zylophone [sic]  
8
   Unda Maris (wood) [TC]
61
     Chimes  
4
   Octave
73
     Carillons  
4
   Harmonic Flute
73
     Tremulant  
               
Swell Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes, enclosed
16
   Lieblich Bourdon (wood)
73
2
   Piccolo
61
8
   Horn Diapason
73
8
   Horn
73
8
   Rohr Floete (wood)
73
8
   Saxophone
73
8
   Viole d'Orchestre (tin)
73
     Harp
OR
8
   Viole Celeste (tin)
73
     Chimes
OR
4
   Flauto Traverso (wood)
73
     Tremulant  
4
   Violina
73
        
               
Pedal Organ – 32 notes ("Augmented")
16
   Major Bass (wood)
44
8
   Violoncello
SW?
16
   Lieblich Gedacht (wood)
SW
8
   Flute [ext. 16' Maj. Bass?]
—
               
Couplers
    Swell to Pedal 8', 4'   Solo to Great 16', 8', 4'
    Great to Pedal 8'   Swell to Orchestral 16', 8', 4'
    Orchestral to Pedal 8'   Solo to Orchestral 8'
    Solo to Pedal 8'   Swell 16', Unison Off, 4'
    Swell to Great 16', 8', 4', 2'   Orchestral 16', Unison Off, 4'
    Orchestral to Great 16', 8', 4'   Solo 16', Unison Off, 4'
               
Adjustable Combinations
   
Solo Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (thumb)
Swell Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (thumb)
Great Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (thumb)
Orchestral Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (thumb)
Pedal Organ Pistons 1-2-3-4 (foot)
Entire Organ (none listed)
               
Accessories
    Balanced Crescendo Pedal, not moving registers, adjustable
    Balanced Swell Pedal, operating on Auditorium and L'Orangerie Organs
    Balanced Orchestral Pedal, operating on Auditorium and L'Orangerie Organs
    Balanced Solo Pedal
    Sforzando Pedal, not moving registers, adjustable
    Great to Pedal, Reversible
    Solo to Great, Reversible
               
Sources:
     "The Hotel Astor," Architects and Builders Magazine (Nov. 1904).
     "Hotel Astor Builder Anticipated Growth," The New York Times (Jan. 12, 1930).
     "The Hotel Astor and Associated Curios." The Astor Collection; University of Virginia web site: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA04/ranger/astor_collection/newyork.html
     Ochse, Orpha. Austin Organs. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 2001.
     Trupiano, Larry. Austin Organ Company brochure with specifications of Austin organ, Op. 252 (1910).

Illustrations:
     Austin Organ Company brochure. Hotel Astor Ballroom. Courtesy Jeff Scofield.
     Lewis, James. Ballroom console of Austin organ, Op. 252 (1910). Courtesy Jeff Scofield.
     New York Architecture Images web site: www.nyc-architecture.com