{"nrhp_refnum":"76001394","name":"Forest City Brewery","other_names":["Distributers Furniture Warehouse"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6920--6922 Union Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cleveland","county":"Cuyahoga County","state":"OH","lat":41.46303714100003,"lon":-81.64011119399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-05-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large five-story brick and concrete brewery building at 6920-6922 Union Avenue in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, built in 1904 for the Forest City Brewing Company and now used as a furniture warehouse and store.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the few remaining examples of distinctive American brewery architecture and the best preserved of the two or three Cleveland breweries left from about two dozen at the turn of the century. Its street facade is described as the only intact example in Cleveland of the massive, castellated, vaguely German style typical of breweries. It also represents the Czech community, which formed the company, and an industry important to social, economic and technological history.","narrative":"Rising five stories on Union Avenue in Cleveland, this brick and concrete building was constructed in 1904 as the Forest City Brewery. Its castellated design, with corbeled piers and machicolated parapets, follows no standard style but reflects the look often used for breweries. The tall, stepped layout served the brewing process, which relied on gravity flow, pumping and hoisting, while lower blocks held power, heating, refrigeration, bottling and loading facilities. The company was formed by members of Cleveland's Czech community and brewed a light Bohemian pilsener, advertising its bottled beer when keg beer was more common. After Prohibition it continued as a bottling works and soft-drink and ice maker until closing in 1930. Cleveland once had about two dozen breweries, and few survive; this is considered the best preserved, with the only intact castellated brewery facade in the city. Adapted for furniture sales and storage, the building keeps its original exterior character, though the original brewing equipment is gone.","period_of_significance":"1904-1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Castellated industrial design, not in any recognized standard style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Interior adapted as a furniture display store and warehouse; no original brewing equipment remains, though the exterior has had no fundamental alterations.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.438443-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001394.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71987713","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":null},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/cuyahoga-county/forest-city-brewery-76001394/"}