The Astral Apartments is an

apartment An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...

building located at 184 Franklin Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn,

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. 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 Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

building in the Queen Anne style. It features a central projecting section with a deep, three-story-high round arch recess. ''See also:'' The roof features inward-looking decorative grotesques. Original amenities of the building included a settlement house, library, and kindergarten. Originally, a branch of the Pratt Institute Free Library operated from the ground floor of the Astral.Ostrander, Stephen M. (1894).
''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 The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1982 and designated a New York City landmark in 1983.

In popular culture

The building is the fictional setting for Kate Christensen's 2011 novel '' The Astral: A Novel''.

References

Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City Residential buildings in Brooklyn Apartment buildings in New York City Residential buildings completed in 1886 Queen Anne architecture in New York City Greenpoint, Brooklyn National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn 1886 establishments in New York (state) New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn {{Brooklyn-struct-stub