History

This building is thought to the city’s first drugstore-soda fountain and is named for its builder architect Christian Rouser who built it in 1855. It has been renovated in the style of the First Renaissance Revival Architecture and after it closed in 1971 it became a combination retail and living space.

The Rouser building which is thought to be home to Lansing’s very first drug store sits at the corner of Allegan and S. Washington Avenue.

The name “Rouser”, was cut into the building’s and became the name of the drugstore, named after the man who founded it, Christian Rouser.

Rouser was just 24 years old when he founded the business in 1887. It contained a soda fountain which became a place to congregate for teens and people on their lunch break. The soda fountain lasted into the era of World War II when the prescription fulfillment area was expanded.

The building was purchased by Lloyd Reynolds in 1955 and the drug store closed in 1971. Upon closing, it was noted as the oldest pharmacy/drug store in Lansing. It is a vital part of the Lansing Downtown Historic District, and in 2009 it was entered on the list of the National Register of Historic Places. Today it has retail on the ground level and loft living upstairs.

Architecture

The Rouser building was built in 1855 and renovated to its present First Renaissance Revival-style appearance around the turn of the 20th Century. The building is clad in painted brick with a green marble and has a white terra cotta front facade, Palladian and arched second-story windows, decorative sculptural reliefs, including wreaths, festoons, and a cartouche, and fluted ionic pilasters flanking the one-over-one second-story windows. It is one of the fancier buildings in downtown Lansing.