NewYork 1909 (front)

Postcard Collection

Hotel Knickerbocker. New York City, 1909. An Astor family Hotel, the Knickerbocker, designed by Trowbridge and Livingston, opened in 1906. It stood at the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street, and its theater district location made it popular with people in the entertainment industry; Enrico Caruso maintained a suite at the Knickerbocker, as did Lusitania victim Charles Frohman. In 1921, the Knickerbocker was converted to business use by Vincent Astor, son of its original owner. For 19 years, Newsweek magazine was headquartered in the former Knickerbocker. The old hotel outlived its other rivals on Times Square~ the Hotel Astor which was demolshed in 1968, and the Claridge which was removed in 1972. It came full circle when in the 1980s, under the stewardship of Leona Helmsley, it was restored and partially converted back to luxury apartments.

Acknowledgements
Mark Praetorius Collection