{"nrhp_refnum":"80002803","name":"Breese, William E., Sr., House","other_names":["Cedar Crest"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"674 Biltmore Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.57311843900004,"lon":-82.54536829799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-04-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story Queen Anne style frame house, known as Cedar Crest, on a three-acre tract at 674 Biltmore Avenue just north of Biltmore Village in Asheville, North Carolina. It was built in 1891 for banker William E. Breese Sr.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the largest and most opulent residences surviving from Asheville's 1890s boom. It is tied to banker William Breese and to Arthur Rees, an early industrialist with the Hans Rees and Sons Tannery. Its rich first-floor interior woodwork is described as rare and distinctive for the region.","narrative":"Cedar Crest, at 674 Biltmore Avenue in Asheville, is a two-and-one-half-story frame house built in 1891 for banker William E. Breese Sr. It sits on a three-acre tract north of Biltmore Village, with a turreted entrance tower, iron cresting, a wrap-around porch on stone piers, and a carriage house at the rear. Inside, the first floor has paneled halls, a Baroque parlor mantel, and woodwork of a lavishness the nomination says was unknown in the region outside Biltmore House. Breese founded the First National Bank of Asheville in 1885, but his bank failed in 1897 and he was indicted; a conviction was later overturned. Arthur Rees, manager of the Hans Rees and Sons Tannery, and his family lived here from 1902 to 1926. The house later served as a sanatorium, stood often empty in the 1930s, and became the Cedar Crest tourist home after 1936. Contractor Charles B. Leonard is believed to have built it.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":"Charles B. Leonard, Contractor","architectural_style":"Queen Anne (a variation of the style)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Still operated as a guest house known as Cedar Crest; described as surviving unaltered and well kept at the time of nomination.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.912473-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/75/7191/47719175/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/80002803.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002803/1c59e973b2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002803/1c59e973b2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bill Fitzpatrick","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_E_Briese.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Fitzpatrick</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:William_E_Briese.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719175","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_E._Breese_Sr._House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17986063"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/breese-william-e-sr-house-80002803/"}