An Astor family heir has revealed the juicy details of growing up within Rokeby - the prominent clan's 43-room Hudson River manor - and it was more grumbling tummies than gold-plated china.
Many assumed the Aldrich family, the 10th generation of Astor heirs, were eccentric hippies living off trust funds but, according to a fascinating new memoir by one of its own, the money had run out.
'I lived a double life,' Alexandra Aldrich says. 'Our poverty was the big secret.'
William B. Astor Sr. married into the 420-acre estate in 1818.
But, by the time Aldrich was running down its hallways, she says 'the Astor money that had supported generations of aristocrats, ill-equipped to earn or invest, (was) gone.'
The front of the house was a facade, where Aldrich's uncle told tours of people a spiel about the Astor family's 200-year history.
But, behind the scenes, the home was crumbling. Aldrich and her parents shared three cramped rooms on the third floor.
'I always longed to be rescued,' Aldrich, whose book 'The Astor Orphan' is released on Tuesday, told The New York Post.
She described how she envied the 'simple ranch, prefab houses' of the middle class. 'I wanted to live like them,' she says.
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The home she grew up in, built in 1815, was added to by every new owner and came to represent the classic 'American Gothic style.'
Her ancestor William B. Astor became 'the richest man in America' with his successful trading of products such as furs, pianos and real estate.
Ironic: The massive home she grew up in came to typify the American Gothic Style, but Aldrich says she came to envy middle class homes
The next generation divided into city and country Astors - the New York Astor line prospered but the country side of the clan did not fare so well.
William B. Astor Sr.'s oldest daughter, Emily, passed away in childbirth and her daughter, Margaret, died of pneumonia at an early age. When her husband died two years later, their eight children, aged four to 14, became the 'Astor orphans.'
Among them were 'Uncle Willie,' 'Uncle Archie' and 'Uncle Lewis.'
'These free-spirited Astor orphans left us, their descendents, our legacy: the house, its history, and contents, and a sense of entitlement and superiority,' Aldrich writes in the memoir, according to The Post.
Memoir: Astor Orphans by Alexandra Aldrich tells of life inside the family's Hudson River mansion
But after Margaret's death in 1963 Rokeby began to decline and through the 1980s, when Aldrich was a young girl, the estate continued to fall into ruin, partly because it was owned jointly by three decedents.
'Joint ownership brought out the worst in everyone,' Aldrich says. 'Everyone had different views of what should happen to Rokeby.'
It also suffered without the 25-strong staff it once had dedicated to its upkeep.
Aldrich told The Post the house was divided with where you lived reflecting your status.
Her uncle and his family lived in a spacious apartment on the first floor while she, her father Ricky, and his Polish artist wife were banished to the servant's quarters.
She says 'the lonely squalor of the third floor' was startlingly contrasted to the grandeur of the rest of the property and she 'felt ashamed each time I climbed the stairs.'
Rich: William B. Astor Sr., pictured, married into the 420-acre estate in 1818 and made his fortune selling fur and real estate
Often they didn't have the cash to buy food and bartered with neighbors to survive, she revealed.
'I enjoyed keeping the myth alive that I lived in a mansion,' Aldrich says. 'I didn’t want to bring anyone home and show them that I really live on the third floor and the front of the house is a museum.'
After boarding school, she moved to Poland then returned to Brooklyn in 1998 where she converted to Orthodox Judaism and she and her husband had a son, Shlomo.
But in 2005, she and her son returned to her ancestral home and lived there for six years. She says it remains 'dirty and rundown' to outsiders but has drastically improved since she was a young girl.
Her father, now in his 70s, still lives in an 18-by-11-foot room that hasn't changed a bit, according to The Post.
But she says, whatever it's condition, her family will never sell the grandiose property.
'It's part of our identities, part of who we are.'
Many assumed the Aldrich family, the 10th generation of Astor heirs, were eccentric hippies living off trust funds but, according to a fascinating new memoir by one of its own, the money had run out.
'I lived a double life,' Alexandra Aldrich says. 'Our poverty was the big secret.'
William B. Astor Sr. married into the 420-acre estate in 1818.
But, by the time Aldrich was running down its hallways, she says 'the Astor money that had supported generations of aristocrats, ill-equipped to earn or invest, (was) gone.'
The front of the house was a facade, where Aldrich's uncle told tours of people a spiel about the Astor family's 200-year history.
But, behind the scenes, the home was crumbling. Aldrich and her parents shared three cramped rooms on the third floor.
'I always longed to be rescued,' Aldrich, whose book 'The Astor Orphan' is released on Tuesday, told The New York Post.
She described how she envied the 'simple ranch, prefab houses' of the middle class. 'I wanted to live like them,' she says.
More...
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The home she grew up in, built in 1815, was added to by every new owner and came to represent the classic 'American Gothic style.'
Her ancestor William B. Astor became 'the richest man in America' with his successful trading of products such as furs, pianos and real estate.
Ironic: The massive home she grew up in came to typify the American Gothic Style, but Aldrich says she came to envy middle class homes
The next generation divided into city and country Astors - the New York Astor line prospered but the country side of the clan did not fare so well.
William B. Astor Sr.'s oldest daughter, Emily, passed away in childbirth and her daughter, Margaret, died of pneumonia at an early age. When her husband died two years later, their eight children, aged four to 14, became the 'Astor orphans.'
Among them were 'Uncle Willie,' 'Uncle Archie' and 'Uncle Lewis.'
'These free-spirited Astor orphans left us, their descendents, our legacy: the house, its history, and contents, and a sense of entitlement and superiority,' Aldrich writes in the memoir, according to The Post.
Memoir: Astor Orphans by Alexandra Aldrich tells of life inside the family's Hudson River mansion
But after Margaret's death in 1963 Rokeby began to decline and through the 1980s, when Aldrich was a young girl, the estate continued to fall into ruin, partly because it was owned jointly by three decedents.
'Joint ownership brought out the worst in everyone,' Aldrich says. 'Everyone had different views of what should happen to Rokeby.'
It also suffered without the 25-strong staff it once had dedicated to its upkeep.
Aldrich told The Post the house was divided with where you lived reflecting your status.
Her uncle and his family lived in a spacious apartment on the first floor while she, her father Ricky, and his Polish artist wife were banished to the servant's quarters.
She says 'the lonely squalor of the third floor' was startlingly contrasted to the grandeur of the rest of the property and she 'felt ashamed each time I climbed the stairs.'
Rich: William B. Astor Sr., pictured, married into the 420-acre estate in 1818 and made his fortune selling fur and real estate
Often they didn't have the cash to buy food and bartered with neighbors to survive, she revealed.
'I enjoyed keeping the myth alive that I lived in a mansion,' Aldrich says. 'I didn’t want to bring anyone home and show them that I really live on the third floor and the front of the house is a museum.'
After boarding school, she moved to Poland then returned to Brooklyn in 1998 where she converted to Orthodox Judaism and she and her husband had a son, Shlomo.
But in 2005, she and her son returned to her ancestral home and lived there for six years. She says it remains 'dirty and rundown' to outsiders but has drastically improved since she was a young girl.
Her father, now in his 70s, still lives in an 18-by-11-foot room that hasn't changed a bit, according to The Post.
But she says, whatever it's condition, her family will never sell the grandiose property.
'It's part of our identities, part of who we are.'