February 07, 2006

Waldorf-Astoria's private rail platform forever closed

Down under the Waldorf-Astoria sits an abandoned train platform and a few cars, once used as a private entrance to the grand hotel by presidents and at least one general.

The Waldorf, which was built on top of the New York Central RailRoad tracks from 1929 to '31, is supported by steel columns placed between the tracks. The closest most people will ever get to the hotel' private platform are the shiny gold doors at street level on the Waldorf's 49th Street side. The lore around the storied underground entrance is often too good to check. A recently-aired "Secrets of New York" TV show hinted that one of the rail cars abandoned under the hotel may have belonged to President Franklin Roosevelt; unfortunately it's just not true, according to researchers at the FDR Museum. President Roosevelt's Pullman car, the Ferdinand Magellan, is a star attraction at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum -- in Miami.

Even Eric Long, the Waldorf's general manager until recently thought the entrance had been used by Joseph Stalin, who it turns out, hated to travel and never visited New York. (Nikita Khrushchev did in fact stay at the Waldorf-Astoria, but arrived by motorcade.)

Long told NewYorkology that the entrance to the platform has been reconfigured and is no longer easy to access. He went down there 12 years ago when he started his job at the hotel, but that was the only time.

Because of the current configuration, tours of the space are out of the question, he said, even as part of OpenHouse New York, which the Waldorf-Astoria participated in last year. The hotel will likely take part in OpenHouseNY again this year, (scheduled for October 7 and 8, 2006,) but tours to many otherwise off-limits sections of the Waldorf-Astoria can be arranged at any time through the hotel's concierge, Long said.

As for who was actually important enough to arrive to the Waldorf-Astoria via the private rail siding, Presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman were definitely among them, along with General John J. Pershing. For more background on the platform, see Joseph Brennan's Abandoned Stations web site, which has an extensive page with pictures and maps of the Waldorf-Astoria platform.

The very detailed bit of information was pulled together for NewYorkology by Robert H. Parks at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum in Hyde Park, NY. While FDR did use the entrance, it was not with the frequency that some now believe.

President Roosevelt did NOT attend any of the forty birthday balls in his honor in New York City on January 30, 1934. He was in Washington, D.C. He made a radio speech from the White House.

His mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, attended various events in New York City that day, including birthday balls to honor FDR and raise money for the Warm Springs Foundation at both the Waldorf-Astoria and the Astor Hotel. A detailed account describing her strenuous schedule of activities appeared on page three of the New York Times, January 31, 1934. The Times account included photos of Sara Roosevelt with Mayor LaGuardia at the Waldorf-Astoria and the Roosevelt birthday cake at the Waldorf-Astoria.

President Roosevelt made speeches at the Waldorf-Astoria on October 4, 1933 and October 21, 1944.

On October 3, 1933, President Roosevelt arrived in New York City by train. He spent the night at his townhouse on East 65th Street. On October 4, he was driven to the Waldorf Astoria where he addressed the National Conference of Catholic Charities.

After the speech Roosevelt was driven to Jersey City where his special train was waiting to take him to Washington, DC.

At 7 a.m. on October 21, 1944, President Roosevelt's special train arrived at the Army Supply Base in Brooklyn. Roosevelt spent that rainy day in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan traveling in an open limousine. After a stop at Eleanor Roosevelt's apartment to dry off and rest he was driven to the Waldorf-Astoria for his address at the Foreign Policy Association Dinner. Afterward he boarded his railroad car, the Ferdinand Magellan, parked on the railroad spur track under the Waldorf-Astoria. His special train then proceeded to Hyde Park.

The events of that day were described in detail in the diary kept by Roosevelt's aide William D. Hassett. Hassett's diary was published as OFF THE RECORD WITH FDR, 1942-1945 (Rutgers University Press, 1958). You will find the October 21, 1944 entry on pages 278-282.

According to Hassett, the spur track beneath the Waldorf-Astoria built to accommodate private cars had been used up to that time only once before by General Pershing. You will also find an account of Roosevelt's activities in the New York Times, October 22, 1944.

February 7, 2006 01:28 PM in History, Hotelology, Sightsology

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