Four and a half years later, on November 1, 1897, the Astoria came formally into being, and the two hotels linked by the hyphen and merged under one management.

That point where Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street cross is one of the great corners of New York.

It is the one that made the profoundest impression on Arnold Bennett: "The pale-pillared, square structure of the Knickerbocker Trust against a background of the lofty red of the AEolian Building, and the great white store on the opposite pavement." A city of amazement has been left behind.

Here we are at the threshold of still another city.

It is different at every hour of the day.