Griffith Thomas, architect of these two buildings, was an early proponent of cast-iron architecture and the 827-831 Broadway Buildings capture his transitional work in marble with cast-iron piers and columns. Their marble fronts and cast iron quoins and columns exhibit the influence of the A.T. Stewart Store. The buildings gained considerable cultural significance after World War II for their associations with the prominent Abstract Expressionist artists Willem de Kooning, Elaine de Kooning, Paul Jenkins, Larry Poons, Jules Olitski, and Herbert Ferber, and with curator William S. Rubi.