Caroline Schermerhorn Astor

Caroline Webster "Lina" Schermerhorn Astor (September 22, 1830 – October 30, 1908) was an American socialite who led the Four Hundred, high society of New York City in the Gilded Age.[3] In 1862, she and her husband built a four-bay townhouse in the newly fashionable brownstone style at 350 Fifth Avenue,[13] the present site of the Empire State Building.The Astors also maintained a grand "summer cottage" in Newport, Rhode Island, called Beechwood, which had a ballroom large enough to fit "The 400" – the most fashionable New York socialites of the day.[21] 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.The Vanderbilts were subsequently invited to Astor's annual ball, a formal acknowledgement of their full acceptance into the upper echelon of New York society.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.Unwilling to live next door to New York's latest sensation and public draw, Mrs. Astor and her son, Jack, first contemplated tearing down her house and replacing it with livery stables.[27] 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.[28][26] By the time she moved into her new house facing Central Park, at the corner of 65th Street, Mrs. Astor's husband had died, and she lived with her son and his family.The inscription is dated A.D. MCMXIV and the cenotaph is located within the small churchyard cemetery at the intersection of Broadway and Wall Street, in which many prominent early Americans are buried.
Portrait of Caroline Webster Schermerhorn in 1860
Ferncliff , the Astor family's country estate in Rhinebeck, New York
Beechwood , the Astors' summer home in Newport, Rhode Island
841 Fifth Ave. in Manhattan in 1895
Portrait of Mrs. William Astor by Carolus-Duran , 1890, painted in Paris and now held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art . [ 16 ] This painting was placed prominently in Mrs. Astor's house; she would stand in front of it when receiving guests for receptions. [ citation needed ]
Caroline Schermerhorn Astor and her guests at a New York City ball in 1902
Engraved vignettes of the original hotels, c. 1915
Astor arranged for a cenotaph at Trinity Church cemetery
Carrie Astor WilsonNew York CityTrinity Church CemeteryWilliam Backhouse Astor Jr.Abraham SchermerhornAstor familyFour HundredGilded AgeJohn Jacob Astor IVRMS TitanicLivingston familyJames I. JonesJones's WoodVan CortlandtPeter SchermerhornWilliam Colford SchermerhornAnnie Schermerhorn KaneJohn Innes KaneGreenwich StreetBowling GreenLafayette PlaceJohn Jacob AstorFrenchFerncliffRhinebeck, New YorkBeechwoodNewport, Rhode Island841 Fifth Ave.ManhattanTrinity ChurchWilliam Backhouse Astor Sr.John Armstrong Jr.Robert LivingstonAstorsKnickerbockerJames John Van AlenJames Roosevelt "Rosy" RooseveltFranklin Delano RooseveltJames Coleman DraytonCaroline Schermerhorn "Carrie" AstorMarshall Orme WilsonRichard Thornton Wilson, Jr.Grace Graham WilsonJohn Jacob "Jack" Astor IVAva Lowle WillingMadeleine Talmage ForceKatherine Emmons ForceTitanichigh societybrownstoneFifth AvenueEmpire State BuildingJohn Jacob Astor IIIThe 400BeaulieuCarolus-DuranMetropolitan Museum of ArtWard McAllisterSamuel Cutler WardAlva Erskine SmithWilliam Kissam VanderbiltWilliam Waldorf AstorviscountWaldorf–Astoria (1893–1929)Waldorf Hotel841 Fifth Avenue840 Fifth AvenueTemple Emanu-ElcenotaphBroadwayWall StreetMarion Graves Anthon FishStuyvesant FishTheresa Fair OelrichsHermann OelrichsAlva BelmontOliver BelmontDonna MurphyThe Gilded AgeEncyclopaedia BritannicaMcCusker, J. J.American Antiquarian SocietyThe New York TimesBrooklyn EagleFind a Grave