{"nrhp_refnum":"82001178","name":"Astral Apartments","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"184 Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.73175964100005,"lon":-73.95747996399996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-10-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large brick and terra-cotta apartment house at 184 Franklin Street in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, built in 1885-86 by Charles Pratt and designed by Lamb & Rich.","why_significant":"The building was built as workers' housing and was considered highly innovative, departing radically from standard nineteenth-century working-class flats. Its design offered separate stair halls, light and ventilation in every room, and shared amenities. It is presented as an important step in the development of the American housing movement.","narrative":"Rising above the low brick and frame houses of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the Astral Apartments at 184 Franklin Street is a massive brick and terra-cotta apartment building put up in 1885-86. Oil merchant and philanthropist Charles Pratt built it for local workers and named it after Pratt's Astral Oil, a lighting oil made at his Greenpoint refinery. The architectural firm Lamb & Rich designed it with stepped gables, arched stair hall windows and round-arched entrances. Its layout was unusual for its time. Six independent sub-units had separate entrances and fireproof stair halls, every room had a window opening onto a courtyard, and each apartment had a scullery and its own toilet. Residents also had rooftop or yard space for drying clothes, basement bathrooms, and a lecture room with books and newspapers. Corner stores were planned on a cooperative basis. These features marked a sharp break from standard workers' housing and made the building a notable step in American housing reform.","period_of_significance":"1885-86","architect_builder":"Lamb & Rich","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in private residential use, in fair condition and altered; storm windows with aluminum infill were added in 1980 and aluminum siding was added to one bay.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:41.925894-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/82001178.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001178/976250767b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82001178/976250767b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Astral_Apartments_jeh.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Astral_Apartments_jeh.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318309","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astral_Apartments","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4811331"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/astral-apartments-82001178/"}