The six-story, cast iron building was designed by John B. Snook in the French Second Empire and Italianate styles and was completed in 1872.

287 Broadway is a New York City designated landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The facade decoration includes segmental pediments, round-arched windows with keystones, and Ionic and Corinthian columns.

The sixth story comprises a slate mansard roof, window dormers, and copper cresting.

The estate of Stephen Storm acquired the site in 1871 and hired Snook to design a commercial building.

Manufacturing firms began moving into 287 Broadway during the 20th century, and it changed ownership several times before it was acquired by the Gindi family in 1969.

The United American Land company acquired 287 Broadway in 2013 and, after determining that the building had been stabilized, renovated it into residential apartments and ground-floor retail.

[5] The six-story building was designed by John B. Snook in a mixture of the French Second Empire and Italianate styles.

[11] One report described the building as "graphically illustrat[ing] the transformation of lower Broadway in the 19th century from a residential boulevard into the city's commercial center".

[14] A pilaster projects from the facade at the northeast corner of the building, facing the intersection of Broadway and Reade Street.

[6] The flat-arched openings had been restored by the 2020s; the easternmost bay on Reade Street is a reproduction of the original design.

[14] In the southernmost bay of the Broadway elevation, the building's main entrance was formerly at the second story; this has since been converted into an arched window with a horizontal transom bar.

The other openings on the second story contain archways with wooden sash windows, which are flanked by Ionic columns and topped by scrolled keystones.

The staircase has steel treads, a tile floor at each landing, and walls clad with gypsum, while the elevator has stainless-steel doors.

The southern portion of the ground floor contains a small residential lobby accessed from Reade Street.

[18] Storm and the owners of three adjacent buildings merged their properties during the 1840s, and they built the Irving House Hotel on the site between 1848 and 1849.

[20] The hotel's guests included Hungarian military leader Lajos Kossuth and Swedish opera singer Jenny Lind.

[18] The economy of New York City grew in the aftermath of the American Civil War, prompting the Storm family to redevelop the Irving House Hotel's site.

[19] In 1871, Storm's estate hired Snook to design a commercial building to be used for banking and office space.

[21] The Union Pacific Railroad Company was an early tenant[22] and had a ticket office at the ground story.

[28] The site remained in the Storm family for nine decades; it was bequeathed to Mabel Louise Simmons, then to Frances Lella Dodd.

[28] During this time, the structure contained several commercial tenants, although parts of the upper stories were converted into residential apartments.

[28][37] The building's residents included painter Cora Cohen, who lived in a loft on the top story for 35 years starting in the 1970s.

[39][40] LPC officials believed that the building was a "good example" of Italianate palazzo architecture in New York City, especially because the structure's original mansard roof was almost entirely intact.

[45] Workers installed timber bracing on the south wall of the building,[12][46] which was replaced by steel shoring in 2008.

[41][47] The new owners determined that the building was structurally stable, and they announced plans for ground-floor retail space and residential rental lofts on the higher floors.

[47] United American Land filed plans in 2018 to convert 287 Broadway to ten condominiums[48] and renovated the building in 2021,[49] after which the structure was also known as 55 Reade Street.

[49][51] The same year, the building received the New York Landmarks Conservancy's Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award.

[52][53] The building was added to the NRHP on February 20, 2024,[1] making it eligible for federal tax benefits for its preservation.