several assistants spent six months creating a plaster model of the hotel, which was exhibited in several cities during 1917. Warren and Wetmore also drew up plans for a small airplane hangar north of the hotel. The project involved numerous extremely large material orders, including a contract for 159,000 pieces of silverware and of mesh reinforcement. The hotel's completion was delayed by supply-chain issues and steel shortages during World War I, although the hotel's managers had awarded almost all construction contracts before the beginning of the war. Most of the steel beams were delivered by truck, train, or barge, but in at least one case, a large girder was delivered by a pack of 18 horses. Even after the American Bridge Company had finished manufacturing steel beams for the hotel, these were sometimes delayed due to steel embargoes. There were also delays in delivering limestone, linen, and carpets. Some of the rivets used in the hotel's frame had to be mailed to the construction site. In addition, rising labor and material prices increased the hotel's cost. By early 1918, the hotel was expected to cost $7.5 million, of which the furnishings were to cost $2 million. The Commodore's steel frame topped out on July 25, 1918. Commodore Hotel operation Opening and Biltmore-Bowman operation The Commodore opened on January 28, 1919. The Commodore's managers mailed out 10,000 invitations for the hotel's opening, and hundreds of businesspeople from across the United States had reserved rooms for the hotel's opening day. A women's club opened within the hotel in March 1919. The Commodore's opening coincided with an increase in the number of passengers that used Grand Central Terminal, in part because the subway station under the hotel had opened one year prior, in 1918. During the hotel's first decade, it hosted such events as car shows, charity balls, a circus, fashion shows, and wrestling matches. The Commodore also hosted a party in 1924 to celebrate the removal of the Grand Central elevated station on 42nd Street, which had been directly above the hotel's main entrance. U.S. president Calvin Coolidge attended a large party at the Commodore in 1925 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of 42nd Street's opening. Bowman also hosted a circus in 1927, with an elephant in the grand ballroom, to impress visiting hoteliers. By 1930, the Commodore was the second-most valuable hotel in New York City (after the Savoy-Plaza Hotel), with