{"nrhp_refnum":"75001555","name":"Thurston Building","other_names":["Hock Pharmacy"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Front St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Grand Rapids","county":"Wood County","state":"OH","lat":41.41213126100007,"lon":-83.86753546299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Science","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick commercial building on Front Street in Grand Rapids, Wood County, Ohio, built in 1897 by Azor Thurston and influenced by the Richardsonian-Romanesque style.","why_significant":"The building is tied to Azor Thurston, a druggist and writer on pharmacology who made Thurston's Pills and Thurston's Sarsaparilla, giving insight into early patent medicine. It also housed his real estate firm and the first Grand Rapids Banking Company. It is one of few nineteenth century buildings left in Grand Rapids and a late nineteenth century commercial example.","narrative":"Built in 1897 on Front Street in Grand Rapids, Ohio, this two-story brick building reflects Richardsonian-Romanesque influence. It rests on a stone foundation and has three bays, with a large central arch holding a display window and smaller arched end bays leading to the store and an upstairs apartment. Four banded arches with single windows mark the second floor, and an oriel window on the northeast corner once had a conical roof. Contrasting brick trims the arches, lintels and parapet, where THURSTON is spelled out in raised letters. Azor Thurston, a respected writer on pharmacology, built it and made Thurston's Pills and Thurston's Sarsaparilla there. The building also held his real estate firm and was the birthplace of the Grand Rapids Banking Company, where he served as first cashier. It survived the 1898 fire that destroyed eighteen neighboring buildings and has always housed a pharmacy, with its original soda fountain still in place.","period_of_significance":"1897","architect_builder":"Azor Thurston (builder)","architectural_style":"Richardsonian-Romanesque influence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered; the building has always housed a pharmacy, which remains in use, and the original soda fountain survives along the west wall.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.12611-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/75001555.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001555/172ad58d52-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001555/172ad58d52-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thurston_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Thurston_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71992056","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138766269"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/wood-county/thurston-building-75001555/"}