Astor summary

William Backhouse Astor, John Jacob Astor’s second son, went on to expand the family’s real estate empire in New York City. After studying abroad in Göttigen and Heidelberg, William entered into partnership with his father, helping manage the fur trade business. But where the elder Astor had built his fortune on furs and early real estate investments, William would truly come into his own as a prominent New York City landlord and developer.

Upon John Jacob Astor’s death in 1848, William inherited an estate worth over $20 million and the title of richest man in America. He sought to put this great wealth to use through strategic New York City real estate acquisitions. William invested heavily in Manhattan properties, buying up land as the city rapidly expanded northward, and constructing many profitable residential and commercial buildings.

If the early Astors defined elite New York real estate, Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, known as “the” Mrs. Astor, came to epitomize the city’s Gilded Age high society. Born into a wealthy Dutch family in 1830, Caroline married William Backhouse Astor, becoming the matriarch of the Astor clan by the late 1800s. From her opulent Fifth Avenue mansion, Mrs. Astor cultivated an aura of exclusivity and aristocratic sensibility modeled after European nobility.

Obsessively controlling her public persona, Mrs. Astor never allowed herself to be photographed unless in a studio and refused to grant interviews to the press. She wished New York journalists had the discretion of English ones, believing that her money represented the family’s character and intelligence. Though born into privilege, Mrs. Astor saw her wealth as earned through effort.

The opulent Waldorf-Astoria hotel came to represent the pinnacle of luxury and society in New York and around the world. Its origins trace back to a family feud of sorts between two Astor cousins, who demolished their fathers’ adjacent mansions to construct competing hotels.

William Waldorf Astor built the Waldorf Hotel in 1893 on the site of his father’s home, much to the annoyance of his aunt Caroline Astor, who lived next door. The large hotel proved immensely fashionable, welcoming unaccompanied women and hosting glittering society events. In 1897, its success motivated John Jacob Astor IV to build an adjoining hotel named the Astoria.

By the early 1900s, the formidable Astor dynasty was fraying at the edges despite its outward opulence. The family faced scandal, tragedy, and financial missteps that slowly eroded its supremacy in New York society.

The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 dealt a major blow, when John Jacob Astor IV died on board. One of the wealthiest Americans, his death was a cautionary tale about the family’s fading fortitude.

The long-fading Astor dynasty finally breathed its last with the death of Anthony “Tony” Dryden Marshall in 2013. As the only surviving son of Vincent Astor, Marshall inherited a dwindling fortune which he then depleted entirely through family infighting.

Born in 1924, Marshall dropped out of college to join the Marines during World War II. After the war, he bounced between careers, dabbling in acting and journalism before settling into a role managing Vincent's money.