Theodore Levin United States Courthouse
Encyclopedia
The Theodore Levin United States Courthouse (also known as the Detroit Federal Building) is a large high-rise courthouse
and office building located at 231 West Lafayette Boulevard in Downtown
Detroit
, Michigan
. The building is named after the late Theodore Levin
, a lawyer
and United States District Court
judge
. This building occupies an entire block in Downtown
Detroit, Michigan
, bordered by Shelby Street, Washington Boulevard, West Fort Street, and West Lafayette Boulevard.
Construction began in 1932 and finished in 1934. It stands at 10 stories in height, with its top floor at 50 metres (150 feet) from the first floor entrance, with the roof being 56.1 metres, or 184 feet (56.1 m) in height from the top of the roof to the streets below. The building was designed in the Art Deco
and art moderne styles of architecture, incorporating granite
and limestone
into the structure. The main facade is limestone
, above a polished black stone.
The building occupies a full office block, girdled by Shelby Street (east), Washington Boulevard (west), West Fort Street (south), and West Lafayette Boulevard (north).
Inside the building, there is an open-center court above the second floor. The building contains relief sculptures of eagles and emblems above the entrance, which symbolize the building's governmental function (as a courthouse).
One of the building's most notable features is the chief judge's courtroom on the seventh floor. At the request of Chief Judge Arthur Tuttle, the courtroom from the previous building (built in 1896) was disassembled and stored during construction, then reassembled in the new building. The "million dollar courtroom," as newspapers dubbed it at the time, contains more than 30 types of marble
. The bench is carved from East Indian mahogany
, and is flanked by two 12 feet (3.7 m)-tall columns of Italian marble, each topped by four lions holding up a globe. Behind the bench is a frieze
of 10 female figures depicting the purity of justice. A frieze of more than 100 unique lions' heads surrounds the room just below the ceiling. Only the floor and ceiling were modernized when the room was reassembled. Chief Justice of the United States
John Roberts
has reportedly described it as one of the finest and most beautiful courtrooms he has seen.
In the 1880s, plans were developed to demolish the building and construct a new and larger facility. However, public objections forced the government to select a new site. The block bounded by Lafayette Boulevard, Fort Street, Wayne Street (now Washington Boulevard) and Shelby Street, was purchased for $400,000 in 1887. Excavation for the new Post Office and Courthouse began in June 1890 and the building was occupied in late 1897. Construction costs exceeded $1,000,000. The massive rock-faced ashlar granite building was designed by Philadelphia architect James H. Windrim. A soaring clock tower with a tiled pyramid roof dominated the Fort Street facade.
Federal authorization and planning for the present building occurred during the presidency of Herbert Hoover. The Detroit Federal Building/U.S. Courthouse was designed Robert O. Derrick, under the auspices of James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect for the Department of the Treasury. The building's overall impression is one of Neo-Classical Revival with Modernistic traits. Demolition of the 1890s building began in late 1931. Construction began in April 1932 and the completed building opened in March 1934. The budget for construction was over $5.5 million dollars.
The building features several ornamental bas-relief sculptural groupings executed by noted Detroit architectural modeler, Corrado Parducci
. Parducci designed the sculptural panels and medallions to depict various agencies and activities of the then-current federal government.
On November 2, 1994, the U.S. Congress approved an act to designate the courthouse as the "Theodore Levin United States Courthouse". 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.
The structural system is of a regular bay steel frame construction, resting on a series of concrete caissons. Concrete is also used for poured-in-place floor slabs as well as fire-proofing for steel columns and beams. The exterior stone cladding is hung from the steel frame or tied to back-up walls of unit masonry.
All four of the exterior elevations are similar, although the primary entries are located on the north and south sides while vehicular openings are located on the east and west. Each elevation is divided vertically into thirds, with a base, a midsection and a top. The base consists of a raised basement and floors one and two and is clad with polished black granite at the water table/raised basement level, and smooth-cut limestone blocks at the first and second stories. The basement, first and second stories have punched recessed openings with bronze sheet sills. The middle portion of the building, floors three through seven, is also faced with smooth-cut limestone articulated by rectilinear pilasters. The windows on the third through sixth stories are grouped vertically and separated by bronze spandrels. The seventh floor windows are in punched openings with bronze sheet sills. 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. The cubic mass of the building is relieved by minor setbacks at the third and eighth floor levels. An ornamental frieze with relief sculpture extends around the building between the sixth and seventh floors. Each elevation has carved relief panels located in its end bays. The panels depict 1930's-era federal government agencies. Extending between the end bays is a frieze of circular medallions alternating with carved, fluted panels. The medallions depict various symbols of the federal government.
The building has bronze framed, single-glazed, double-hung windows of varying proportions. Typically, the first floor openings are glazed with double four-over-six sash and are surmounted by fixed transoms. Floors two and seven have double, four-over-six sash without transoms. 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.
The principal entries to the building are located on the north and south elevations. Each entry is centered on the elevation where three portals are defined by four fluted pilasters surmounted with stylized eagles. These entries are reached by granite stairs leading from the sidewalk level to recessed loggias. 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.
Significant interior spaces include the vaulted public concourse which extends north-south between the primary entries on the first floor and the two-story courtrooms located on the seventh and eighth floors. The Chief Judge's Courtoom, Room 732-734, was salvaged from the previous federal building that occupied the site and reconstructed in the present building. The Romanesque style courtroom stands in dramatic contrast to the stripped, neo-classical and modernistic details typical of the other courtrooms.
The building was originally designed and engineered to carry two more full stories in place of the penthouses at the eleventh and twelfth floors. A 1931 publication rendering depicts the courthouse with twelve full stories. Their elimination may have stemmed from budget shortfalls during the period of construction between 1932 and 1934 which coincided with the height of the Great Depression.
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
and office building located at 231 West Lafayette Boulevard in Downtown
Downtown Detroit
Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Downtown is bordered by the Lodge Freeway to the west, the Fisher Freeway to the north, Interstate 375 to the east, and the Detroit River to the south.Downtown contains much historic...
Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
. The building is named after the late Theodore Levin
Theodore Levin
Theodore Levin was a was a prominent immigration lawyer and United States federal judge who served on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan from 1946 until his death in 1970....
, a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and United States District Court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
. This building occupies an entire block in Downtown
Downtown Detroit
Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a residential area of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Downtown is bordered by the Lodge Freeway to the west, the Fisher Freeway to the north, Interstate 375 to the east, and the Detroit River to the south.Downtown contains much historic...
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, bordered by Shelby Street, Washington Boulevard, West Fort Street, and West Lafayette Boulevard.
Construction began in 1932 and finished in 1934. It stands at 10 stories in height, with its top floor at 50 metres (150 feet) from the first floor entrance, with the roof being 56.1 metres, or 184 feet (56.1 m) in height from the top of the roof to the streets below. The building was designed in the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
and art moderne styles of architecture, incorporating granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
into the structure. The main facade is limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, above a polished black stone.
The building occupies a full office block, girdled by Shelby Street (east), Washington Boulevard (west), West Fort Street (south), and West Lafayette Boulevard (north).
Inside the building, there is an open-center court above the second floor. The building contains relief sculptures of eagles and emblems above the entrance, which symbolize the building's governmental function (as a courthouse).
One of the building's most notable features is the chief judge's courtroom on the seventh floor. At the request of Chief Judge Arthur Tuttle, the courtroom from the previous building (built in 1896) was disassembled and stored during construction, then reassembled in the new building. The "million dollar courtroom," as newspapers dubbed it at the time, contains more than 30 types of marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
. The bench is carved from East Indian mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
, and is flanked by two 12 feet (3.7 m)-tall columns of Italian marble, each topped by four lions holding up a globe. Behind the bench is a frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
of 10 female figures depicting the purity of justice. A frieze of more than 100 unique lions' heads surrounds the room just below the ceiling. Only the floor and ceiling were modernized when the room was reassembled. Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
John Roberts
John Roberts
John Glover Roberts, Jr. is the 17th and current Chief Justice of the United States. He has served since 2005, having been nominated by President George W. Bush after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist...
has reportedly described it as one of the finest and most beautiful courtrooms he has seen.
History
Before the courthouse was constructed in 1932, the site was the former home of Fort Lernoult (later Fort Shelby) and the 1897 U.S. Post Office, Courthouse and Custom House located on the northwest corner of Griswold and Larned Streets. This three-story Renaissance Revival style structure was completed in January 1860 and cost $162,000. Parts of the remains from the 1897 Courthouse can be found in the US District Courtroom, Room 733.In the 1880s, plans were developed to demolish the building and construct a new and larger facility. However, public objections forced the government to select a new site. The block bounded by Lafayette Boulevard, Fort Street, Wayne Street (now Washington Boulevard) and Shelby Street, was purchased for $400,000 in 1887. Excavation for the new Post Office and Courthouse began in June 1890 and the building was occupied in late 1897. Construction costs exceeded $1,000,000. The massive rock-faced ashlar granite building was designed by Philadelphia architect James H. Windrim. A soaring clock tower with a tiled pyramid roof dominated the Fort Street facade.
Federal authorization and planning for the present building occurred during the presidency of Herbert Hoover. The Detroit Federal Building/U.S. Courthouse was designed Robert O. Derrick, under the auspices of James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect for the Department of the Treasury. The building's overall impression is one of Neo-Classical Revival with Modernistic traits. Demolition of the 1890s building began in late 1931. Construction began in April 1932 and the completed building opened in March 1934. The budget for construction was over $5.5 million dollars.
The building features several ornamental bas-relief sculptural groupings executed by noted Detroit architectural modeler, Corrado Parducci
Corrado Parducci
Corrado Giuseppe Parducci was an Italian-American architectural sculptor who was a celebrated artist for his numerous early 20th Century works.-Early life and education:...
. Parducci designed the sculptural panels and medallions to depict various agencies and activities of the then-current federal government.
On November 2, 1994, the U.S. Congress approved an act to designate the courthouse as the "Theodore Levin United States Courthouse". 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.
Architectural description
The building is located in the downtown financial district and occupies the entire block bounded on the north by Lafayette Boulevard, the south by Fort Street, the west by Washington Boulevard and the east by Shelby Street.The structural system is of a regular bay steel frame construction, resting on a series of concrete caissons. Concrete is also used for poured-in-place floor slabs as well as fire-proofing for steel columns and beams. The exterior stone cladding is hung from the steel frame or tied to back-up walls of unit masonry.
All four of the exterior elevations are similar, although the primary entries are located on the north and south sides while vehicular openings are located on the east and west. Each elevation is divided vertically into thirds, with a base, a midsection and a top. The base consists of a raised basement and floors one and two and is clad with polished black granite at the water table/raised basement level, and smooth-cut limestone blocks at the first and second stories. The basement, first and second stories have punched recessed openings with bronze sheet sills. The middle portion of the building, floors three through seven, is also faced with smooth-cut limestone articulated by rectilinear pilasters. The windows on the third through sixth stories are grouped vertically and separated by bronze spandrels. The seventh floor windows are in punched openings with bronze sheet sills. 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. The cubic mass of the building is relieved by minor setbacks at the third and eighth floor levels. An ornamental frieze with relief sculpture extends around the building between the sixth and seventh floors. Each elevation has carved relief panels located in its end bays. The panels depict 1930's-era federal government agencies. Extending between the end bays is a frieze of circular medallions alternating with carved, fluted panels. The medallions depict various symbols of the federal government.
The building has bronze framed, single-glazed, double-hung windows of varying proportions. Typically, the first floor openings are glazed with double four-over-six sash and are surmounted by fixed transoms. Floors two and seven have double, four-over-six sash without transoms. 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.
The principal entries to the building are located on the north and south elevations. Each entry is centered on the elevation where three portals are defined by four fluted pilasters surmounted with stylized eagles. These entries are reached by granite stairs leading from the sidewalk level to recessed loggias. 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.
Significant interior spaces include the vaulted public concourse which extends north-south between the primary entries on the first floor and the two-story courtrooms located on the seventh and eighth floors. The Chief Judge's Courtoom, Room 732-734, was salvaged from the previous federal building that occupied the site and reconstructed in the present building. The Romanesque style courtroom stands in dramatic contrast to the stripped, neo-classical and modernistic details typical of the other courtrooms.
The building was originally designed and engineered to carry two more full stories in place of the penthouses at the eleventh and twelfth floors. A 1931 publication rendering depicts the courthouse with twelve full stories. Their elimination may have stemmed from budget shortfalls during the period of construction between 1932 and 1934 which coincided with the height of the Great Depression.
Alternate names
The building is also known by other names, such as: Detroit Federal Building, Detroit Custom House, Detroit Post Office.External links
- Google Maps location of Theodore Levin United States Courthouse (the large square building with a small courtyard in the middle)
- Theodore Levin United States Courthouse at Emporis.com
- SkyscraperPage.com's profile on the Theodore Levin United States Courthouse
- Photos of the "million dollar courtroom" at BuildingsOfDetroit.com
- "Jewel of Justice: Preserved courtroom defines elegance" from Motion magazine
- "Historical courtroom hidden gem of Detroit," WDIV-TV video