 It opened with 400 bedrooms, 176 bathrooms and a range of innovative features – a telephone and electric lights that could be switched off at the bedside in all rooms, three elevators and central heating.1889 – Theatrical impresario Edward Sanders decided to build a major West End hotel on the northern rim of Aldwych.Sanders partnered with accountant Thomas Wild to raise the sum of £700,000, with the assistance of William Waldorf Astor, whom the hotel was named after in gratitude.