Ahrens Building, Commercial building in Manhattan, United States

The Ahrens Building is a seven-story Romanesque Revival structure at 40 Franklin Street, at the corner of Elm and Franklin Streets in Manhattan's Civic Center. Architect George Henry Griebel designed it with polychrome brickwork, terra cotta and metal over a limestone base. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1992.

In 1879 liquor store owner Herman F. Ahrens bought two frame properties at Elm and Franklin Streets. When an 1881 street-widening project threatened demolition, he built the present Ahrens Building as a speculative development. Construction was briefly halted when union workers walked off the job over non-union steamfitters. The Ahrens family held the building until 1968, when Morris and Herbert Moskowitz bought it.

The ground floor of the Ahrens Building has housed bars and restaurants since the 1960s, while the upper floors served as storage space from the 1940s until the 1968 sale to Morris and Herbert Moskowitz, after which they were converted back to offices. The building's name recalls Herman F. Ahrens, the liquor store owner who commissioned it.

The Ahrens Building stands at the corner of Elm and Franklin Streets in the Civic Center, near Chambers Street and City Hall subway stations, both within walking distance. The surrounding blocks hold municipal offices and courts, so foot traffic is heaviest on weekday business hours. The ground floor's bars and restaurants, present since the 1960s, serve the area.

The building's six elevators were installed by the Sprague Electric Company on February 16, 1895, an early electric lift system in a speculative office building. Construction had earlier been halted when union workers walked off the job over non-union steamfitters on site.