"[2]: 60–62  The Excelsior satisfied the plans of the commandant, who in July 1908 had been put in charge of a public facilities department established by the French authorities.

First imagined as six-story buildings, the hotel and its neighbor Magasins Paris-Maroc represented a departure from the adjacent medina in terms of scale.

[2]: 60–62  The Excelsior and its brasserie quickly replaced the Café du Commerce as the meeting place for business and land speculation deals.

[2]: 60–62 Henry Dugard in Le Maroc Au Lendemain De La Guerre wrote that it represented the transformation of Casablanca from a "a rough and unrefined monster" into a civilized city.

The building had a frame of concrete and friezes and balconies with inspiration taken from neo-mauresque decorative themes then popular in Algeria and Tunisia, also occupied by the French.