20 West 27th Street

 apartment building  Add category

6-story Beaux-Arts cooperative-apartment building completed in 1911. Designed by LaFarge, Morris & Cullen as a store-and-lofts building for John Jacob Astor, its black-painted limestone base has piers with crowning cartouches. There is a recessed main entrance at the left, and a recessed storefront entry on the right. The original leaded glass transoms are mostly covered by signage over the storefront.

The 3-bay upper floors have buff-colored brick piers framing black cast-iron pilasters and paneled spandrels with diamond shapes. The windows all have transoms. The 6th floor has a balcony with an ornamental wrought-iron railing. The building is capped by a copper roof cornice with elongated brackets and a paneled frieze.

It was converted to apartments sometime in the late 1900s. The ground floor is occupied by United Songs cell phone accessories.