Legendary as a gathering place for big-time financiers and fortune-seekers from the New York Stock Exchange, the Bull and Bear Prime Steakhouse at the Waldorf Astoria NYC was where Manhattan luxury entertainment and business merged.
“In the late 1800s, the New York Stock Exchange was the place where businessmen and burgeoning industrialists staked and won their fortunes,” former General Manager Gilbert Bolivar said in an interview with Food and Beverage Magazine.
He continued, “At The Waldorf Astoria Bar, later known as the Bull & Bear Steakhouse, New York’s giants of real estate and finance hammered out deals while drinking elbow to elbow. In honor of this patronage, the hotel placed two magnificent bronze statues– a bull and a bear. Over time, so many deals were struck at the Bull and Bear, where the gilded statues stood, that regular patrons adopted the moniker as the bar’s unofficial title.”
Designed by French global firm Pierre-Yves Rochon, known for designing prestigious hotels, restaurants, and residences, the Bull and Bear was furnished in English Regency style – dark, rich wood, layered textures, leathers, lamps, fine artwork, with an all-around sophisticated ambience. The venue won awards from the National Restaurant Association and Holiday magazine and served as the backdrop for Fox Business Happy Hour between 2007 and 2010.
The Waldorf Astoria Hotel has been an icon of New York City’s title as a hub for some of the most significant historical, royal, political, and cultural operations in the world. After its Park Avenue location opened, hundreds of notable visitors basked in the hospitality of the Waldorf Astoria – Albert Einstein, Nikolai Tesla, Winston Churchill, Dalai Lama, Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne, Katherine Hepburn, and every U.S. president after Herbert Hoover.
Olde Good Things began the project of salvaging the Waldorf Astoria New York City in 2017 in preparation for significant renovations of the hotel.
“I didn’t know much about the Waldorf Astoria except it was just a fancy name,” says Olde Good Things’ Greg Switalski. “When I got in there, wow! Saw the Winston Churchill Suite and it dawned on me this was a very special place.”
Ranked by the NY Times as one of the three best bars in the world, Bull and Bear was known partially for its hand carved mahogany, four-cornered diamond-shaped bar with brass footrails built by Jaff Brothers Woodworks Inc. It was the centerpiece item OGT was able to salvage from the space. “We dismantled the bar very carefully, and it came out in excellent condition,” Switalski explained.
Other items salvaged from the project included a unique four-sided bench, bull and bear oil painting on canvas, and a bronze chandelier.
“We reclaimed a significant portion of wall paneling from the bar. The bar was very well-made from mahogany,” Switalski said. “The room has special provenance…top-notch quality, indicative of the Waldorf Astoria.”
Architectural salvage remains a sustainable source of excellently-crafted, original materials that encapsulate the preservation of history, withstand the test of time, and use increasingly rare building and design components in a sustainable fashion to bring luxury and character to a space. For more information on remaining salvage from the Bull and Bear or items in the Waldorf Astoria collection, contact one of our salvage experts at OGT.
View Bull & Bear Mahogany Steakhouse Bar from the NYC Waldorf Astoria Hotel online.
