{"nrhp_refnum":"85002857","name":"Brown, Adam, Block","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"480 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Rochester","county":"Monroe County","state":"NY","lat":43.15881096500004,"lon":-77.59952509999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-10-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick and terra cotta Romanesque Revival commercial and residential block at 480 East Main Street in Rochester, Monroe County, New York, built in 1885 and designed by architect Harvey Ellis.","why_significant":"It is a distinguished example of Romanesque Revival commercial/residential architecture in the Inner Loop Multiple Resource Area. It is also a rare example of Harvey Ellis's commercial work in Rochester. Its richly detailed south facade and smaller window openings make it unique among Ellis's surviving Rochester designs.","narrative":"Built in 1885 for Adam Brown, this four-story brick building at 480 East Main Street in Rochester housed his butcher shop on the ground floor and a group of apartments above. Architect Harvey Ellis gave it a Romanesque Revival design with terra cotta trim. The south facade centers on a large round arch of dogtooth brickwork supported by paired pilasters with foliated capitals, and three levels of oriel windows sit within it. A terra cotta frieze, an arcaded fourth story and a panelled parapet add further detail. Unlike Ellis's larger manufacturing and warehouse buildings, which used wide banks of windows, this block has smaller openings cut through load-bearing walls, suited to apartments and giving light and air on three sides. It is one of only a few surviving Ellis commercial buildings in Rochester. The storefront has been altered and the interiors retain little original material, but the upper facade remains distinctive.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Architect: Harvey Ellis; Builder: Unknown","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as deteriorated; the storefront was altered in the 1970s and the brick sandblasted in the 1960s. Present use is residential, the same as original.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.315652-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85002857.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002857/fd8be94f61-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002857/fd8be94f61-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tim Pierce","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Adam_Brown_Block.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tim Pierce</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:Adam_Brown_Block.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313589","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Brown_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4678794"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/monroe-county/brown-adam-block-85002857/"}