Midtown Manhattan

If you listen carefully, you can still hear Frank Sinatra singing in the grand Hotel Astor as he did from 1940-1942. Taken from the sidewalk, this photograph only hints at the hotels grand proportions.

Built in 1905 in the Beaux Arts style, the hotel was envisioned as a successor to the Waldorf-Astoria. It had 1,000 guest rooms, a green-copper mansard roof, themed ballrooms, exotic restaurants and a rooftop garden. The hotel, however, had a relatively short life in Times Square. Located between 44th and 45th Streets and Broadway, it was destroyed in 1967 and eventually replaced by a 54-story office tower.