Astor Trust Company Building (New York City, New York)

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262-foot, 20-story Beaux-Arts office building completed in 1917. Designed by Montague Flagg for the Astor family as the headquarters for the Astor Trust Company, the family's private bank, it is clad in limestone. It was later changed to the Bankers Trust Company Building, but returned to its original name during a 2015 renovation by current owners, Abramson Brothers, who bought the building in 1968, with the name etched onto both facades in the frieze at the top of the 3-story base.

The renovation removed the black granite cladding on the ground floor that was added in 1960, exposing the original limestone along the north facade's seven bays and the west facade's five bays. The main entrance is in the south bay on the avenue, with recessed metal-and-glass doors; the other bays have storefronts. At the middle bays on both facades, the 2nd and 3rd floors are dominated by double-height round-arches with scrolled keystones, recessed behind and separated by large Corinthian columns. Stone balustrades span the bases of the arches, and brown cast-iron mullions divide them into triple-windows. The center pane of the taller 3rd floor, above the brown spandrels, has a low, decorative, brown iron pediment topping the spandrel. Between the capitals of each column, and above the keystones of the aches, are intricately carved panels. The end bays are slightly narrower, framed by squared Corinthian pillars, and with similar carved panels at the tops. The 2nd floor has single-windows in stone surrounds, topped by rounded pediments, while the 3rd floor has no opening at the end bays, instead featuring a pair of thin, vertical, carved panels at the sides. The base is topped by an entablature with a modillioned and dentiled cornice above the frieze, which has swirling designs at the ends, framing the carved building name.

The upper floors are faced in darker limestone. The 4th & 5th floor have tripartite windows in the middle bays, and single-windows in the end bays. A small cornice runs across the 4th floor, and the 5th-floor windows have projecting sills, with triangular pediments above the center pane of the tripartite windows. A modillioned sill course runs below the middle bays of the 6th floor; the middle bays of the 6th floor and up have paired windows. A pair of cornices set off the 17th floor, in which the windows of the middle bays are evenly spaced across the facade. The 2-story crown has rounded Corinthian columns between each window in the middle bays, with brown cast-iron spandrels between the floors, and the end bays at the 18th floor have small stone balconies. The main roof line is marked by a sawtoothed band of short finials, with the penthouse level recessed above.

The east elevation is clad in grey-brown brick, with vertical lines of tan brick. It has two bays of paired windows beginning at the 4th floor. The ground floor is occupied by NY Gifts & Luggage, Brazo Pizza, Dunkin', a Bank of America ATM, Joseph Edwards watches, and Deco Fine Jewelry.

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