{"nrhp_refnum":"78001865","name":"Grace and Thomaston Buildings (Additional Documentation)","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"11 Middle Neck Rd. and 8 Bond St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Great Neck Plaza","county":"Nassau County","state":"NY","lat":40.78773644300003,"lon":-73.72738565399999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-12-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two brick commercial buildings in the commercial center of Great Neck Plaza, Nassau County, New York: the Grace Building (1914) at 11 Middle Neck Road and the Thomaston Building (1926) at 8 Bond Street, both built by W.R. Grace and Company and designed by James W. O'Connor.","why_significant":"The buildings mark the beginning of Great Neck Plaza's commercial development and are the village's earliest surviving commercial structures. They reflect W.R. Grace and Company's role in developing Great Neck Plaza as the peninsula's business center. They are also notable as works of architect James W. O'Connor, designed in a style based on Kew Gardens in England.","narrative":"Great Neck Plaza's earliest surviving commercial buildings are the Grace Building of 1914 and the Thomaston Building of 1926, both built by W.R. Grace and Company and designed by New York architect James W. O'Connor. The Grace Building, shaped like a chevron, has an octagonal slate-roofed tower, wrought iron balconies and varied gables and dormers. It first held the peninsula's earliest retail stores, a freight office, offices and apartments. The Thomaston Building, with six bays and projecting gables, served as headquarters for the Grace Company's real estate operations and later as the village hall. The design drew on Kew Gardens in England, which members of the Grace family admired. The company supervised leases and sales, and provided mortgages and building loans, shaping the growth of Great Neck Plaza and nearby Thomaston. Together the buildings mark the start of the area's commercial development as the business center of the peninsula.","period_of_significance":"1900-1999 (specific dates 1914 and 1926)","architect_builder":"James W. O'Connor (architect); W.R. Grace and Company (builder)","architectural_style":"Style based on Kew Gardens in England (reviewer notes refer to Colonial Revival influence)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good; the Grace Building's interior has been extensively altered and its storefronts remodeled, while the Thomaston Building retains its original storefront arches and upper-floor details. The Thomaston Building was restored in 1977.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.979874-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001865.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001865/493e843013-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78001865/493e843013-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"D. Benjamin Miller","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grace_and_Thomaston_Buildings,_Aug_15_2022.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">D. Benjamin Miller</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grace_and_Thomaston_Buildings,_Aug_15_2022.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319107","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_and_Thomaston_Buildings","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5591423"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/nassau-county/grace-and-thomaston-buildings-additional-documentation-78001865/"}