Kerr Building

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151-foot, 12-story Neo-Georgian office building completed in 1920. Designed by Warren & Wetmore for the Kerr Steamship Company. The building has a broad facade on Beaver Street and a narrow one extending to South William Street. The 2-story base and "attic story" on the 3rd floor are clad in stone. The base was originally organized as a colonnade of seven piers (those in the center having Ionic capitals) supporting an architrave; the main entrance at the east, refaced in dark marble for the New York Department of Sanitation, has hidden two piers. A decorative panel over a secondary entrance at the west end depicts sailing ships and seagulls. The base is topped by a stone cornice with the words KERR STEAMSHIP CO INC carved just below. Some rather ugly metal paneling has been added to the ground floor.

The upper floors are clad in dark red brick, rising seven stories to a setback with a cornice, two more floors to another setback, and a final top floor. There are paired windows, with single bays on the ends of the facade. The partially visible east elevation is plain brick with one double column of windows. The South William elevation is a narrow, 10-story tall shaft, just three windows wide, continuing the Neo-Georgian style of the Beaver Street facade. It's now largely occupied by the NYC Department of Sanitation.