The seventh floor contains the lavishly decorated, Romanesque style Chief Judge's Courtroom, one of the building's most notable features.

[1] The old, original Detroit Customs House and Federal Court building was located on the northwest corner of Griswold and Larned Streets.

Courthouse was designed Robert O. Derrick, under the auspices of James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect for the Department of the Treasury.

[2] The exterior of the building features several ornamental bas-relief sculptural groupings executed by noted Detroit architectural sculptor Corrado Parducci.

[3] Parducci designed the sculptural panels and medallions to depict various agencies and activities of the then-current federal government.

A ceremony was held in the Spring of 1995 to officially announce the designation and to present new building signs on the Lafayette Boulevard and Fort Street elevations.

[4] The first two phases upgraded plumbing; HVAC; electrical; fire detection and suppression systems; passenger and freight elevators.

[5] A third phase which would remove acoustic tile ceilings in some areas to expose the originals and transform the interior courtyard to a green space accessible to building occupants without the need to pass through security screening, is still awaiting funding.

[4] The structural system is of a regular bay steel frame construction, resting on a series of concrete caissons.

The exterior stone cladding is hung from the steel frame or tied to back-up walls of unit masonry.

The upper portion of the building, floors eight through ten, is characterized by smooth-cut limestone with vertically-grouped windows aligning with those of the middle section.

Floors three through six and eight through ten have paired, double-hung sash with four-over-four lights grouped vertically and separated by fluted bronze spandrels.

At the north end of the east and west elevations are granite-clad vehicular sally-ports which lead into the basement level parking/loading dock area.

The concourse originally served as public access to postal services and still retains some counters and windows used by the post office.

The bench is carved from East Indian mahogany, and is flanked by two 12-foot (3.7 m)-tall columns of Italian marble, each topped by four lions holding up a globe.

[6] The building was originally designed and engineered to carry two more full stories in place of the penthouses at the eleventh and twelfth floors.