Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Coleman A. Young Municipal Center is a large tower in Downtown Detroit, near Hart Plaza, One Detroit Center and the Renaissance Center. Originally called the City-County Building, it was renamed for former Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young, after his death.
The high-rise building was constructed in 1951, and completed in 1954. It is 20 floors high, with one basement floor, for a total of 21. The building is used as a library, a courthouse, a county government facility (in addition to the nearby Wayne County Building), and as a city hall, replacing the now-demolished Detroit City Hall.
An enclosed skyway over Jefferson Avenue connects to the Millender Center, Courtyard by Marriott - Downtown Detroit, and the Renaissance Center as a sort of "enclosed city within a city".
[edit] Facts
- A 25-foot bronze statue is situated at the flat end of the tower, named the "Spirit of Detroit." During some recent championship runs by Detroit sports teams (the Red Wings, Pistons, and Tigers), the statue has been outfitted with a huge version of the appropriate team's jersey.
- The Coleman A. Young Municipal Center houses offices, courtrooms, and meeting rooms. The verticality of the tower section, with its strips of white marble, offers a distinct contrast with the 14-story office section, in which horizontal lines are emphasized.
- The 14-story administration tower is 197 feet tall, from the ground to the mechanical penthouse roof parapet.
- The 20-story portion of this complex is called the Courts Tower, and contains office space on floors 1 through 8, and courtrooms, judge chambers, and jury rooms on floors 9 through 19, with the 20th floor housing the building's mechanical equipment.
- The 14-story portion called the Administration Tower holds offices for the City of Detroit and Wayne County, as well as doctor clinics, laboratories, a municipal library, and the City Council auditorium chambers on the 13th floor.
- A symbolic marble wall rising 43'-6.25" high stands 17' west of the Court Tower, and is connected to the Courts Tower by a canopy that forms the Woodward Avenue entrnace.
[edit] See also
- Robert Sharoff (2005). American City: Detroit Architecture 1845-2005 Wayne State University Press.
[edit] External links
- Google Maps location of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
- Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at Emporis.com
- SkyscraperPage.com's Profile on the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
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