240 Centre Street, Manhattan: architect, style and history

Formerly the New York City Police Headquarters, this building at 240 Centre Street served the NYPD from 1909 to 1973 before being converted into luxury residences in 1988 by the Ehrenkranz Group & Eckstut, becoming the Police Building Apartments. It occupies an entire city block bounded by Centre Street, Broome Street, Centre Market Place, and Grand Street, and was designed by the firm Hoppin & Koen in a mixture of Baroque and Renaissance Revival styles.

the building

The domed portico. The primary facade faces Centre Street, where a central portico topped by a dome is flanked by two wings. A porte-cochère sits to the north, a second portico to the south, and a second entrance to the east. The building is clad in limestone and granite.

Below ground. The five above-ground stories sit atop two basement levels, which originally contained shooting ranges for the police department.

the style

Though often labeled Beaux-Arts, the building blends Baroque and Renaissance Revival forms, giving a working police headquarters the scale and formality of a grand civic monument.

the architect

Francis L.V. Hoppin practiced as part of Hoppin & Koen, the firm responsible for this headquarters building, completed in 1909.

significance

240 Centre Street is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

nearby

Odd Fellows Hall 140 ft · Queen Anne · 1848
Stephen Van Rensselaer House 300 ft · Federal · 1816
Storefront for Art and Architecture 0.1 mi · 1982
Bowery Savings Bank 0.2 mi · Beaux-Arts · 1834
E. V. Haughwout Building 0.2 mi · Cast Iron · 1857
254-260 Canal Street 0.2 mi · Renaissance Revival

All 413 buildings in Manhattan