The Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan is known for its grand public spaces, such as its two-tiered ballroom and vast lobby. But upstairs, in a windowless corner of the hotel's administrative offices, Deidre Dinnigan toils in a cramped room not much larger than a closet. Ms. Dinnigan, the hotel's archivist, is responsible for cataloging and researching more than 4,000 objects, from filigreed brass room numbers to yellowing advertisements from the 1950s.
"I love what I do," Ms. Dinnigan said during a recent interview, her tall frame squeezed between a table obscured by books and a tower of filing cabinets. A mannequin dressed in an old bellhop uniform was stationed where her desk chair would normally go. "I believe I would throw myself into any field," she said, "but there is something about the Waldorf, especially if you love New York and social history."
The 123-year-old Waldorf Astoria is one of the few hotels with an extensive archive, and possibly the only one to have its own archivist. But the future of Ms. Dinnigan's position, and the collection that she oversees, is uncertain. The hotel, which was bought by a Chinese insurance company two years ago for a record $1.95 billion, is to close in the spring to undergo a conversion. Most of the 1,413-room premises will be turned into luxury condominiums, with a much smaller hotel component.
After the conversion, the Waldorf's archive will remain as part of the small hotel property, Chris Winans, a spokesperson for Anbang Insurance Group, the new owner, said. As for Ms Dinnigan, she has yet to be told what the future holds for her, and Mr Winans declined to comment on her status. "Am
I nervous? Sure I am," Ms Dinnigan, who has been in her job a little over a year, said.
For the Waldorf, the conversion to condominiums is the latest chapter in a long history. In 1893, William Waldorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on Fifth Avenue, followed four years later by his cousin John Jacob Astor IV's Astoria Hotel. The two combined operations and the Waldorf Astoria, the first to feature electricity and in-room telephones, became a favourite of the rich and famous. Its enormous four-sided brass bar turned out highballs for clamouring crowds, while its kitchens spawned such culinary inventions as the Waldorf salad and eggs Benedict.
The hotel was demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building, and the Waldorf Astoria reopened at its current location on Park Avenue. The tallest hotel in the world at the time, it hosted royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II, and Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, who maintained a suite there. Every United States president since Herbert Hoover has stayed at the Waldorf (Hoover moved there for three decades after his presidency). It has served as the backdrop for movies from "Week-end at the Waldorf" with Ginger Rogers to "Maid in Manhattan" starring Jennifer Lopez.
In recent years, though, the hotel has struggled. There have been allegations of bedbugs, an accidental shooting at a wedding that injured several guests and, last year, a break with tradition when President Obama chose to stay elsewhere on a trip to New York City. Amid all these difficulties, Ms Dinnigan said, the Waldorf transformation is just the next step in a continuum. "There was the Fifth Avenue hotel, then the Park Avenue hotel, and now I see this as the third and latest iteration," she said.
The condo conversion of the Waldorf follows a pattern similar to that of another Manhattan hotel, the Plaza, a decade ago. In 2005, the Plaza Hotel closed for a three-year renovation, eventually reopening as luxury condominiums, many of which eventually sold for tens of millions of dollars, and a much smaller hotel portion. While the Waldorf has said it will maintain its archive after its conversion, Christie's auctioned most of the Plaza's most valuable objects to the highest bidders.
"One of the trends I've seen over the past 20 years is the increasing monetisation of collections, and viewing them for their monetary values," said Peter J Wosh, director of the archives and public history program at New York University. Once memorabilia is put up for sale, he added, it is often out of the reach of historical societies and libraries. "It is really sad because a collection gets sold off and broken up, and is no longer accessible to people," he said. "The Waldorf had a lot of prominent people staying there, so I imagine that the autograph value alone is probably monetarily valuable."
But while a collection may attract buyers, that does not necessarily mean it has the same value to scholars, said Thomas G Lannon, the New York Public Library's assistant director for manuscripts, archives and rare books. The library is the custodian of over 600 volumes of archival materials from the first Waldorf Astoria, much of it donated when it relocated to Park Avenue from Fifth Avenue. It is unclear, he said, whether the library would accept the current archive, should the owners decide to discard it.
"I love what I do," Ms. Dinnigan said during a recent interview, her tall frame squeezed between a table obscured by books and a tower of filing cabinets. A mannequin dressed in an old bellhop uniform was stationed where her desk chair would normally go. "I believe I would throw myself into any field," she said, "but there is something about the Waldorf, especially if you love New York and social history."
The 123-year-old Waldorf Astoria is one of the few hotels with an extensive archive, and possibly the only one to have its own archivist. But the future of Ms. Dinnigan's position, and the collection that she oversees, is uncertain. The hotel, which was bought by a Chinese insurance company two years ago for a record $1.95 billion, is to close in the spring to undergo a conversion. Most of the 1,413-room premises will be turned into luxury condominiums, with a much smaller hotel component.
After the conversion, the Waldorf's archive will remain as part of the small hotel property, Chris Winans, a spokesperson for Anbang Insurance Group, the new owner, said. As for Ms Dinnigan, she has yet to be told what the future holds for her, and Mr Winans declined to comment on her status. "Am
I nervous? Sure I am," Ms Dinnigan, who has been in her job a little over a year, said.
For the Waldorf, the conversion to condominiums is the latest chapter in a long history. In 1893, William Waldorf Astor opened the Waldorf Hotel on Fifth Avenue, followed four years later by his cousin John Jacob Astor IV's Astoria Hotel. The two combined operations and the Waldorf Astoria, the first to feature electricity and in-room telephones, became a favourite of the rich and famous. Its enormous four-sided brass bar turned out highballs for clamouring crowds, while its kitchens spawned such culinary inventions as the Waldorf salad and eggs Benedict.
The hotel was demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building, and the Waldorf Astoria reopened at its current location on Park Avenue. The tallest hotel in the world at the time, it hosted royalty, including Queen Elizabeth II, and Hollywood stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Frank Sinatra, who maintained a suite there. Every United States president since Herbert Hoover has stayed at the Waldorf (Hoover moved there for three decades after his presidency). It has served as the backdrop for movies from "Week-end at the Waldorf" with Ginger Rogers to "Maid in Manhattan" starring Jennifer Lopez.
In recent years, though, the hotel has struggled. There have been allegations of bedbugs, an accidental shooting at a wedding that injured several guests and, last year, a break with tradition when President Obama chose to stay elsewhere on a trip to New York City. Amid all these difficulties, Ms Dinnigan said, the Waldorf transformation is just the next step in a continuum. "There was the Fifth Avenue hotel, then the Park Avenue hotel, and now I see this as the third and latest iteration," she said.
The condo conversion of the Waldorf follows a pattern similar to that of another Manhattan hotel, the Plaza, a decade ago. In 2005, the Plaza Hotel closed for a three-year renovation, eventually reopening as luxury condominiums, many of which eventually sold for tens of millions of dollars, and a much smaller hotel portion. While the Waldorf has said it will maintain its archive after its conversion, Christie's auctioned most of the Plaza's most valuable objects to the highest bidders.
"One of the trends I've seen over the past 20 years is the increasing monetisation of collections, and viewing them for their monetary values," said Peter J Wosh, director of the archives and public history program at New York University. Once memorabilia is put up for sale, he added, it is often out of the reach of historical societies and libraries. "It is really sad because a collection gets sold off and broken up, and is no longer accessible to people," he said. "The Waldorf had a lot of prominent people staying there, so I imagine that the autograph value alone is probably monetarily valuable."
But while a collection may attract buyers, that does not necessarily mean it has the same value to scholars, said Thomas G Lannon, the New York Public Library's assistant director for manuscripts, archives and rare books. The library is the custodian of over 600 volumes of archival materials from the first Waldorf Astoria, much of it donated when it relocated to Park Avenue from Fifth Avenue. It is unclear, he said, whether the library would accept the current archive, should the owners decide to discard it.
©2016 The New York Times News Service