[4] The building faces East Jefferson; the entrance is heavily decorated in military and naval themes using Pewabic tiles.

[4] In front of the building is a semi-circular drive encircling a flagpole, unveiled May 26, 1942, in honor of Captain R. Thornton Brodhead and a large Navy anchor from the USS Yantic, a Civil War gunboat whose hull is buried in a filled-in boat slip in Gabriel Richard Park.

[4] The state of Michigan and the city of Detroit pooled $375,000 to build a new armory on Jefferson near the foot of the Belle Isle bridge.

Captain Brodhead and architect William Stratton accepted a proposal by artist David Fredenthal and reconfigured an entire wall in the wardroom to include bookshelves and a fireplace.

A mural on the four walls of the mess hall was painted by Edgar Yaeger; one of his assistants, John Tabaczuk, carved some 20 insets for wooden doors in the building, as well as a fanciful bannister on the stairway to the penthouse.

Gustave Hildebrand, assisted by James Johnson, incised plaster on the four walls at the main east entrance to create 800 feet of bas relief depicting the everyday activities of sailors.