Click above images to enlarge Belcrest, The 5440 Cass Avenue, Detroit - Wayne County Other Names Belcrest Hotel Property Type brick building Historic Use DOMESTIC/hotel Current Use DOMESTIC/hotel Style Exotic Revival Romanesque Architect/Builder CHARLES N. AGREE Narrative Description The Belcrest Hotel is a twelve-story, steel and concrete building sheathed in brown brick and trimmed with terra cotta, built in 1926 according to the designs of Detroit architect Charles N. Agree. The building is T-shaped in plan, with the base of the T abutting the sidewalk along Cass Avenue. The building has a strong vertical character emphasized by three projecting bays, one facing Cass Avenue and one on each side of the leg of the T, which rise from the third floor through the twelfth and end above the cornice line in an ornamented gable. The one-story entry foyer, projecting from the north elevation, is graced with an identical gable. Elaborate terra-cotta cornice lines located above the second-floor level, the eleventh-floor level, and the twelfth floor define horizontal sections of the building. Statement of Significance Built in 1926 as a luxury class apartment hotel, the Belcrest is significant as an early work of Detroit architect Charles N. Agree and a work which helped establish his reputation locally as a first class designer. It is also significant as a prime early Detroit example of the apartment hotel development concept. Though by 1926 this development idea was successful in other major cities such as New York and Chicago, the Belcrest was one of the first buildings in Detroit to be designed to provide the services of a hotel coupled with long term residential features of an apartment building. Period of Significance 1901-1930 Significant Date(s) 1926-1927 Registry Type(s) 05/31/1984 National Register listed 11/30/1983 State Register listed Site ID# P25025