Ahrens Building

History and architecture

Designed by Manhattan architect George H. Griebel, and constructed in 1894-95, the Ahrens Building is a distinctive example of the Romanesque Revival style successfully adapted to the requirements of a steel-framed elevator building. Griebel's design incorporates a sophisticated arcaded composition, punctuated by unusual and elegant metal-clad polygonal oriel windows in the long Lafayette Street facade, which provides a pleasing balance of horizontal and vertical elements.

The design displays a skillful interpretation of the contemporary aesthetic of structural polychromy — drawn from the writings of John Ruskin and often associated with the work of H.H. Richardson -- pared down to a spare, membrane-like facade treatment. The masonry cladding, composed of a rusticated sandstone base and buff-colored brick trimmed with rock-faced brown brick and Romanesque-inspired terra-cotta details, exhibits particularly fine craftsmanship which accentuates the color and texture inherent in the various materials.

The extensive use of brick with curved bull-nose profiles, found in the window reveals and the bartizan-like forms at the upper stories, gives the facades a striking textural quality enhanced by the play of light and shadow. This seven-story store and office building was commissioned by liquOr merchant Herman F. Ahrens, whose business had been located on the Lafayette Street blockfront for thirty years; intended as a speculative investment, the construction of the building coincided with a municipal project to widen and improve Lafayette Street as a viable transportation route and commercial thoroughfare.

Owned by the Ahrens family until the 1960s, the building is remarkably intact and remains a prominent feature in the civic center area.