Astral Apartments

{{Short description|Apartment building in New York City}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{Infobox NRHP

| name = The Astral Apartments

| nrhp_type =

| image = Astral Apartments jeh.JPG

| caption = Astral Apartments, August 2008

| location = 184 Franklin St., Brooklyn, New York

| coordinates = {{coord|40|43|54|N|73|57|28|W|region:US-NY_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| locmapin = New York City#New York#USA

| built = 1885

| architect = Lamb & Rich

| architecture =

| added = October 29, 1982

| area = less than one acre

| refnum = 82001178

{{NRISref|version=2009a}}

| designated_other2_name = New York City Landmark

| designated_other2_date = June 28, 1983

| designated_other2_abbr = NYCL

| designated_other2_link = New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission

| designated_other2_number = 1194

| designated_other2_color = #ffe978

}}

The Astral Apartments is an apartment building located at 184 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York City. The Astral was built in 1885–1886 as affordable housing for employees of Charles Pratt's Astral Oil Works. It is a block-long brick and terra cotta building in the Queen Anne style.{{cite web|url=http://nyc-architecture.com/GPT/gpt011.htm|title=New York Architecture: The Astral Apartments|accessdate=2011-07-01|publisher=nyc-architecture.com|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708080201/http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GPT/gpt011.htm|archivedate=8 July 2011 |url-status=live}} It features a central projecting section with a deep, three-story-high round arch recess.{{cite web|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=3245|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration:Astral Apartments|date=July 1981|accessdate=2011-02-20|author=James T. Dillon and Anne B. Covell|publisher=New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019040443/http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=3245|archive-date=2012-10-19|url-status=dead}} See also: {{cite web|url=http://www.oprhp.state.ny.us/hpimaging/hp_view.asp?GroupView=3246|title=Accompanying four photos}} The roof features inward-looking decorative grotesques. Original amenities of the building included a settlement house, library, and kindergarten.{{Cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of New York City|last=Jackson|first=Kenneth|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2010|isbn=978-0-300-11465-2|location=New Haven|pages=73–74}}

Originally, a branch of the Pratt Institute Free Library operated from the ground floor of the Astral.Ostrander, Stephen M. (1894). [https://books.google.com/books?id=HHUmAQAAIAAJ&pg=PP1 A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, Volume II]. Brooklyn, NY: Subscription.

The building was designed to echo red-brick apartments built for workers by George Peabody in London. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 and designated a New York City landmark in 1983.