Kingston Arms Apartments

The Kingston Arms is a representative example of the eclectic period revival apartment buildings which sprang up along Detroit's major thoroughfares during the 1920s. The building reflects not only the architectural tastes of the day in apartment building design. It also exemplifies and symbolizes the social history of the exuberant period of major population growth in Detroit in the late 1910s and 1920s that was reflected in the rapidly growing number of middle-class apartment buildings in fashionable parts of the city such as East Grand Boulevard.

The Kingston Arms is a four and one-half story Tudor Revival building with twenty-four apartment units. A shop space with a separate street entrance is located in the basement with a short access stair at the corner of the building, originally occupied by a beauty parlor. The building is located at the northeast corner of East Grand Boulevard and Agnes Avenue so there are two street-facing elevations. The building is rectangular in shape with the shorter main entrance front facade facing East Grand Boulevard and the longer side elevation facing Agnes. The building facades feature predominantly brick masonry, with cast stone trim elements such as upper and lower cornices; bands at the building base, above the first floor and at the roof line; window surrounds at the lower levels; window sills; caps at the stepped roof parapet and a small corner tower; and square medallions. At the upper two floors there are wood timbers recessed into projecting bays in an Elizabethan half-timber manner. There are gable roofs over these bays which help convey a residential character to this larger apartment building. Brick masonry patterns include standard running bond, soldier courses above windows, and a variety of herringbone and other ornamental coursing found in the projecting bay panels. The main entrance consists of a stone surround with a half-round arch over the doorway. Above this arch is a rectangular panel with the building name 'Kingston' incised into the stone. The original entrance double door system is still in place. An exterior brick walkway with a herringbone weave pattern and a concrete border leads to the public sidewalk. Original windows are also still in place, with new exterior storm window units added in a rehabilitation project that took place in 1988. The entrance doors and trim, window frames, and the wooden half-timbers were painted a light blue color in the 1988 remodeling project. They will be repainted to more closely approximate the original colors, probably brown. Otherwise, the building facades have received no alterations and remain much as originally built. The building interior features a high ceilinged lobby with a wainscot of wood paneling on all walls and ceramic tile flooring. Of special significance is the ceramic tile flooring in the lobby which appears to include 2x2 Pewabic tiles inlaid in an unusual diagonal pattern with 4x4 tan colored field tiles. Two rows of 4x4 terracotta colored tiles form a border around this pattern in the lobby. Each of the 2x2 Pewabic tiles has a unique ornamental pattern and/or color glaze combination, exhibiting the range of colors and patterns commonly found in Pewabic tiles. There are over 100 tiles of this type in the lobby floor.