{"nrhp_refnum":"78002105","name":"Williams, Henry Harrison, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"37392 Detroit Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Avon","county":"Lorain County","state":"OH","lat":41.44958352900005,"lon":-82.03829168799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-07-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival wood-frame house at 37392 Detroit Road in Avon, Lorain County, Ohio, built circa 1840, with a two-story main section and a story-and-a-half side wing.","why_significant":"The house is tied to Henry Harrison Williams, a pioneer merchant and manufacturer, and to his grandson Harrison Williams, who was born there in 1873 and became one of America's wealthiest utility magnates. It was the site of an early ashery business, with cisterns and brick structures still present. It is also one of the oldest remaining buildings in Avon.","narrative":"Built around 1840 on Detroit Road in Avon, this Greek Revival house has a two-story wood-frame main section with its gable end toward the street and a story-and-a-half wing. Its timbers were cut at the Williams sawmill and joined with mortise and tenon construction, on a foundation of fieldstone and local sandstone. Henry Harrison Williams bought the property in 1844, opened a mercantile business in the house, and later built the town's first steam sawmill and a gristmill nearby. He also ran an ashery that turned wood ashes into salt and baking powder for local settlers, and cisterns and brick structures in the basement and at the rear still reflect that use. His grandson Harrison Williams was born in the house in 1873 and rose to lead a large network of utility companies, amassing a fortune above six hundred million dollars by the 1920s. The house is also among the oldest surviving buildings in Avon.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied as a private residence; exterior restoration work has removed later additions and repaired original siding and cornices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.071204-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002105.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002105/08e447c86a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002105/08e447c86a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Chris Light","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:37300_Detroit_HH_Williams_House_IMG_2077.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Chris Light</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:37300_Detroit_HH_Williams_House_IMG_2077.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989811","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138478684"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lorain-county/williams-henry-harrison-house-78002105/"}