The courthouse was designed by RTKL Associates and contains elements of the International Style of architecture, first popularized in the 1930s in Europe and later adopted for federal buildings in the United States.

Garmatz, who was born and died in Baltimore, was a U.S. Representative for Maryland from 1947 to 1973, serving as the chairman of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries for much of his political career.

Designed by RTKL Associates, a Baltimore-based, multidisciplinary firm of architects, engineers, and planners, the building exhibits characteristics of the International Style of architecture including a simple cubic mass, lack of ornamentation, and horizontal bands of windows.

The building is a poured-concrete shell with a strong exterior horizontal emphasis created by alternating concrete strips and bands of fixed windows.

A covered patio with brick flooring, planted containers, chairs, and tables provides a transitional space between indoor and outdoor areas.

Most notably, O'Doherty Group Landscape Architecture redesigned the formerly stark brick plaza to include engaging design features that provide a human scale.

Tiered stone retaining walls of varying lengths are constructed of reclaimed Belgian block from the city's streets and respond to the natural site topography.

[4,5,6,] When the plaza was renovated in 2000, the work was conserved and relocated to its present site at the corner of South Hanover and West Lombard streets.

Baltimore-born sculptor Reuben Kramer's rugged bronze depiction of Thurgood Marshall, accomplished lawyer, civil rights advocate, and the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, was unveiled in 1980.