{"nrhp_refnum":"79001860","name":"Thomson, Peter G., House","other_names":["Archbishop's Residence","Donald LaRosa Mansion","Laurel Court"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5870 Belmont Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cincinnati","county":"Hamilton County","state":"OH","lat":39.19904348600005,"lon":-84.55426152399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Laurel Court is a thirty-six room granite mansion on a seven-acre estate at 5870 Belmont Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio, built 1902-1905 as the residence of paper manufacturer Peter G. Thomson. The estate also has a caretakers' cottage, garage, stable and barn, and Italian and Oriental gardens.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Laurel Court is a regionally significant example of early twentieth century Renaissance Revival architecture, designed by Chicago architect James Gamble Rogers. It was among the largest and most opulent houses in the Middle West, and it is one of few residences with an interior atrium. It is also tied to Thomson, a leading Ohio industrialist and founder of the Champion Coated Paper Company.","narrative":"Laurel Court is a thirty-six room mansion on a seven-acre estate in Cincinnati, built between 1902 and 1905 for Peter G. Thomson, founder of the Champion Coated Paper Company. Chicago architect James Gamble Rogers designed the symmetrical gray Alabama granite house in a Renaissance Revival style that draws on French and Italian sources. Its front has a portico with Ionic columns, and the interior includes a gold-leaf Gold Room, a library with African fruitwood paneling and a central atrium with a fountain and palm trees. The grounds hold formal Italian and Oriental gardens, a pergola, a pool, a caretakers' cottage, a garage and a stable. Contemporary accounts called it one of the largest and most pretentious houses in the Middle West, and it reportedly cost one million dollars. The Archdiocese of Cincinnati bought it in 1947 and used it as the archbishops' residence until 1975. It was later bought by the founder of LaRosa's Restaurants and used as offices.","period_of_significance":"1902-1905","architect_builder":"James Gamble Rogers","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival, combining French and Italian Renaissance elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; used as offices by its owner at the time of nomination. Some garden statuary and interior ceilings were altered by the Archdiocese, and the ceilings have been partially restored.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.115702-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/79001860.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001860/044deb2651-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001860/044deb2651-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PeterGThompson.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Photo by Greg Hume (Greg5030)</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:PeterGThompson.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989103","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_G._Thomson_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7174143"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/hamilton-county/thomson-peter-g-house-79001860/"}