870 Broadway | office building

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4-story office building completed in 1847 as a rowhouse. In 1894, the building was joined to 30 East 18th Street at the rear, forming a continuous L-shaped building. It was altered in 1915 with an early-20th century-style commercial facade on Broadway designed by Arthur Sutcliffe. It has a modern glass and dark-brown aluminum storefront. The upper floors are clad in red brick, with 5-part iron-framed show windows with molded mullions on each floor. The windows are progressively shorter in height at each floor. The height of the building was also slightly extended at the time of the 1915 alteration. A black modillioned iron cornice caps the facade.

The 18th Street facade is Italianate in style, constructed between the mid-1850s and mid-1860s. The ground floor storefront is framed in black cast-iron, with three iron steps up to both the retail and residential doors. A red metal dentiled cornice caps the ground floor. The upper floors are clad in red-painted brick, each having three square-headed window openings which get progressively shorter at each floor. These openings have molded sills and flush stone lintels accented by rosettes and topped by deep moldings arched at the center. A black iron fire escape runs down the left two bays, and the facade is topped by a red iron bracketed roof cornice.

In the 1870s, the building was occupied by artists' studios. In 1881, the ground floor was lowered and a new storefront was installed. Herman Bergdorf, a tailor, had his shop in the building until 1893. His business would eventually become the Bergdorf Goodman company. 30 East 18th Street remained a private residence for a longer period of time; as of 1868, the building did not have a ground-story storefront, unlike many of the surrounding buildings. One was most likely installed when the two buildings were joined together in 1894. Currently the ground floor is occupied by Clarke's Standard burgers on Broadway, and Lumber Liquidators, Inc. on East 18th.