27-31 Bleecker Street | apartment building

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7-story Romanesque-revival cooperative-apartment building completed in 1888. Designed by Albert Buchman as a store, it was one of his last designs before partnering with Gustav Deisler. The facade is five bays across, plus a 1-bay projecting corner tower on the east end. The ground floor of this bay has rock-faced brownstone cladding (now painted dark grey) with a segmental-arch that was the original entrance (now filled-in). The rest of the ground floor has dark-grey paneled cast-iron piers and a molded metal cornice, with the current entrance in the 2nd-to-east bay, and glass blocks the others.

The upper floors are clad in light-colored brick, with beveled piers, paneled spandrels, decorative brickwork, carved panels, radiating brick window lintels, Corinthian orders, brick coursing, and round-arched 7th-story windows. The 4th-story windows are segmental-arched. The corner tower has a single window with an iron grille at each floor, except the 4th, which only has horizontal bands across the brick. The 5th & 6th floors are also banded. At the 7th floor, there is another round-arch to match the other bays, set just above a pair of short, projecting piers and a panel with the date 1887 (when construction began). A dentiled metal roof cornice caps the facade, with a black metal fire escape running down the center.

During the early- and mid-twentieth century, this building was occupied by a variety of fur and printing firms. After World War Two, the number of fur businesses declined, while several paper suppliers and garment makers remained into the latter part of the century. They were joined by suppliers of mannequins, household furnishings, and novelty manufacturers. This building, which retained its industrial use for a longer period than many its neighbors, was converted to cooperative apartments in 1985.