Charles N. Agree

Whittier Hotel

Charles Nathanial Agree (April 18, 1897 – March 10, 1982) was an American architect who held his practice in Detroit, Michigan.

Biography

Agree moved to Detroit in 1909 at the age of 12. He began his firm in 1917, after he graduated from the Detroit Y.M.C.A Technical School. His first major commission came in 1921 to build the Whittier Hotel near the bank of the Detroit River. He later went on to design many office buildings, theaters, and ballrooms. Agree was one of the Detroit architects of the 1920s and 1930s who utilized the services of architectural sculptor Corrado Parducci .

As the architecture changed by the 1960s, so did Agree's commissions. He began designing many modern-style malls. In addition to the office in the Book Tower, Agree's firm later opened an office on McNichols Road in Detroit and then a suburban office in Bloomfield Hills.

Several Agree designed buildings have been plundered by architectural scavengers. These include the Vanity Ballroom, where several Mayan-Deco panels were torn off, and the Grande Ballroom which brought rock band MC5 into fame, which has sat empty since closing in 1972.

Agree-designed buildings

• Whittier Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, 1921-1927
• Belcrest Hotel in Detroit, Michigan, 1926
• Hollywood Theater in Detroit, Michigan, with Graven & Mayger, 1927
• Grande Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, 1928
• Vanity Ballroom in Detroit, Michigan, 1929
• Lincoln Theatre (Remodeling) in Lincoln Park, Michigan, 1936
• Westown Theater, Detroit, 1936
• Beverly Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, 1937
• Palmer Park Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, 1937
• Harpos Concert Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, 1939
• Royal Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, 1940
• Trans-Lux Krim in Detroit, Michigan, 1941
• Showcase Cinemas Dearborn in Dearborn, Michigan, 1941
• Duke Theatre in Oak Park, Michigan, named after Duke Ellington, 1941-1947
• Park Theatre (Remodeling) in Lincoln Park, Michigan, 1942
• Woods 6 Theater in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, 1948
• Southgate Shopping Center in Southgate, Michigan, 1957
• Flint Tavern Hotel, Flint, Michigan
• Highland Lodge Apartment Building in Stamford, Connecticut
• Detroit Zoo Holden Reptile House in Royal Oak, Michigan
• Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield, Michigan
• Oakland Mall in Troy, Michigan
• Trenton Village Theatre in Trenton, Michigan
• Wabeek Building in Birmingham, Michigan (This is credited to Agree, but all records indicate it was designed by Albert Kahn in 1928.)
• Wilshire Residential Hotel, Detroit, Michigan

References and further reading

• Hill, Eric J. and John Gallagher (2002). AIA Detroit: The American Institute of Architects Guide to Detroit Architecture. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-3120-3.
• Meyer, Katherine Mattingly and Martin C.P. McElroy with Introduction by W. Hawkins Ferry, Hon A.I.A. (1980). Detroit Architecture A.I.A. Guide Revised Edition. Wayne State University Press. ISBN 0-8143-1651-4.