FIFTH    AVENUE
 

31
 

From a photograph.                                                                        Copyright, 1915, by Perry Walton.

34th STREET AND FIFTH AVENUE TO-DAY.

Showing the Waldorf-Astoria, and the Columbia Trust Company building on the site of the

Townsend and Stewart mansions.

Street. The Waldorf Hotel, named after the little town of Waldorf,
Germany, the Astors' ancestral home, occupies the former site of John
Jacob Astor's house, and was opened for business March 14, 1893. The
Astoria, named after Astoria, Ore., founded by John Jacob Astor, Sr.,
in 1811, stands on the site of William B. Astor's house. It was opened
November 1, 1897. The two hotels, under one management, are now
called the Waldorf-Astoria.

On a site which was also part of the Thompson farm, at the north¬
west corner of 34th Street, stood, at the beginning of the Civil War,
the residence of "Dr." Samuel P. Townsend, known as "Sarsaparilla"
Townsend. Townsend, who had been a contractor, made his money
by   successfully   advertising   Townsend's   Sarsaparilla.    His   house,
 

Waldorf-
Astoria
Site
 

''Sarsapa¬
rilla"

Townsend's
House and
the A. T.
Stewart
Mansion