The Coleman A. Young Municipal Center building complex sits at the corner of Woodward and Jefferson Avenues. It replaced Detroit’s old City Hall, torn down in 1961, which stood on the site of the former Kennedy Square and current Ernst & Young building (One Kennedy Square) on the west side of Campus Martius. Two buildings, a fourteen-story office tower and the twenty-story Courts Tower, housing offices and courtrooms, make up the center, which was intended to be part of a civic center plaza conceived by Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Originally named the City-County Building when it opened in 1955, it was renamed for the city’s five-term mayor, Coleman A. Young, in 1997.
The buildings were designed by Harley, Ellington and Day who also designed the Veterans Memorial Hall on Hart Plaza. The design features 28 varieties of marble, and echoed the modernist International style found in the United Nations Headquarters. The use of black and white marble in the Courts Tower emphasizes its verticality. Built during a construction materials shortage during the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman recognized the importance of the building to the community, and personally ensured that supplies were made available. A skywalk connects the office tower to the Millender Center which in turn is connected to the Renaissance Center by skywalk.
Managed by the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority, the buildings house the City of Detroit offices, Wayne County Circuit Court offices and judges, and Wayne County Probate Court and County Clerk. Other Wayne County offices previously located here were moved to the Guardian Building.
Perhaps the most recognized part of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center is the twenty-six-foot-high Spirit of Detroit sculpture by Marshall Fredericks on its west side. It sits in front of bas reliefs on the building showing the seals of Detroit and Wayne County and an engraved Bible verse, “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”