The interior decorations were designed by painter and architect Louis O. Keil, who collaborated with Kirby on many projects.

The next year the slightly larger 500-foot (150 m) length overall Seeandbee, another Kirby designed ship, was launched for the Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Company (C&B).

City of Detroit III cost $1,500,000 to build ($49.1 million in 2023 dollars) and was ornately furnished.

[4] Forty percent of the steamer's width was situated over the wheels, allowing room for many amenities like salons, a palm court and a winery to be built into the vessel.

City of Detroit III's "Gothic Room" was disassembled and re-erected in a barn near Cleveland, Ohio, for ten years before it was once again taken down and then partially reassembled and refinished at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle in Detroit.