George Boldt

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File:Bellevue-Stratford Hotel letterhead 1916.jpg

Engraved 1916 letterhead of the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel with vignettes of the hotel as well as those of the Waldorf and Astoria Hotels in New York all of which were then operating under the management of George Boldt.

File:Waldorf Astoria Cigar Company.jpg

Boldt also owned the Waldorf Astoria Segar Company

George Charles Boldt Sr. (April 25, 1851 – December 5, 1916) was a Prussian-born American hotelier. A self-made millionaire, he influenced the development of the urban hotel as a civic social center and luxury destination.<ref name=obit/>

Life and careerEdit

He was born as Georg Karl Boldt in Bergen auf Rügen, Pommern, on April 25, 1851.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Efn He immigrated to the United States in 1864.<ref name=obit/> He began as a kitchen worker in New York and, at age 25, was hired (by his future father-in-law) to manage the dining room of Philadelphia's most exclusive gentlemen's club, The Philadelphia Club.Template:Sfn

Boldt's first hotel was the Bellevue (1881), at the northwest corner of Broad & Walnut Streets, in Philadelphia. He soon bought a competing hotel, the Stratford, at the southwest corner. Two decades later, on the site of the Stratford, he built the largest hotel the city had ever seen, the 1,090-room Bellevue-Stratford Hotel (1902–04, now the Hyatt).

The enormous fortunes generated by robber barons in the post-Civil War Era led to an unprecedented level of luxurious living for wealthy Americans. Boldt catered to this new super-rich class, charging the highest prices for the very best, and becoming one of them in the process.

William Waldorf Astor built the Waldorf Hotel (1890–93) in New York City, with Boldt as proprietor. John Jacob Astor IV built the adjoining Astoria Hotel (1897). Boldt mediated between the feuding millionaire cousins, leasing the Astoria himself, and merging the two buildings under his management as the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.Template:Efn The Empire State Building now occupies its site at 34th Street and 5th Avenue.Template:Sfn He is credited with popularizing Thousand Island dressing at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he instructed the maître d', Oscar Tschirky, to include it on the menu. The hotel introduced other popular food items, such as Waldorf Salad. Boldt also owned the Waldorf Astoria Segar Company, which imported fine Cuban cigars and was located at the hotel.Template:Citation needed Template:Efn

He built Boldt Castle on an island in the Thousand Islands area of New York State. The enormous castle was intended as a gift for his wife, Louise Kehrer Boldt, but when she died suddenly on January 7, 1904, in Manhattan, at the age of 42, construction was halted. The castle, near Alexandria Bay, was restored after decades of vandalism and is now a major summer tourist attraction.

Towards the end of his life, he commissioned architect Francis T. Underhill to build him a Swiss-chalet-style mansion, "La Manzanita," in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California.Template:Sfn

Boldt died on December 5, 1916, in Manhattan, New York City of a heart attack.<ref name=obit>Template:Cite news</ref> He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.Template:Citation needed

LegacyEdit

Boldt once owned Nikola Tesla's Wardenclyffe Tower property, receiving it as payment for a debt. Tesla mortgaged the property to Boldt and the Waldorf-Astoria to pay the costs of his residence at the hotel when he encountered financial difficulties. Tesla did so first in 1904 and again in 1908; he was unable to repay the mortgages. Boldt and the Waldorf-Astoria foreclosed on the property in 1915.Template:Sfn Template:Efn

He was a trustee of Cornell University.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 1923, Boldt's daughter, Mrs. Alfred G. Miles, donated US$50,000 to the university for the construction of Boldt Tower to honor her father's memory.<ref>Template:Cite news(subscription only)</ref> Boldt Hall is also named for him. Three bricks from the original structure of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel were incorporated into the building.<ref name=bricks>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Saying that his father always sympathized with an eager student whose only impediment to higher education was a lack of funds, Boldt's son George C. Boldt Jr. established a scholarship program at Cornell bearing his father's name in 1922.<ref>Template:Cite news(PDF)</ref>Template:Efn

During his lifetime, Boldt was a frequent donor to Cornell University, the American Red Cross, many local hospitals and built a library at Alexandria Bay, New York.Template:Efn Boldt also helped put at least 75 young men through college, doing this anonymously. He also assisted those in business who were having financial difficulties and told employees at his hotels if they were having monetary problems, his door was always open to them.<ref name=Will/>

Boldt's will equally divided US$15 million between his son and daughter, with a request to his children that they continue to financially support the charities he had donated to in the past. While the will gave his children the right to dispose of any or all of Boldt's properties, they made no plans to sell any of their father's holdings, with George Charles Boldt Jr. assuming the presidency of the company his father began.<ref name=Will/>

FamilyEdit

From his marriage to Louise Augusta Kehrer, he had two children: George Charles Boldt Jr. and Clover Louise Boldt, later Mrs. Alfred Graham Miles, and three granddaughters.<ref name=Will/>

GalleryEdit

Waldorf-Astoria 1904-1908.jpg

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York, NY (1890-93 & 1897), Henry J. Hardenbergh, architect (of both hotels).
BellevueStratford.jpg

Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Broad & Walnut Sts., Philadelphia, PA (1902–04), G. W. & W. D. Hewitt, architects.
Boldt Castle 3.jpg

Boldt Castle, Heart Island, Alexandria Bay, NY (1900–04), G. W. & W. D. Hewitt, architects.
Boldt yacht house 2.jpg

George C. Boldt Yacht House, Alexandria Bay, NY (1903), G. W. & W. D. Hewitt, architects.
George Boldt Tower in Woodlawn Cemetery.JPG

George C. Boldt Monument, Woodlawn Cemetery (Bronx, New York).
Boldt Hall.jpg

Boldt Hall and Tower (Language House), Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (1922–23), Day & Klauder, architects.