It is a block-long brick and terra cotta building in the Queen Anne style.

[2] It features a central projecting section with a deep, three-story-high round arch recess.

[4] Originally, a branch of the Pratt Institute Free Library operated from the ground floor of the Astral.

[5] The building was designed to echo red-brick apartments built for workers by George Peabody in London.

[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982[1] and designated a New York City landmark in 1983.