Courtroom is from the previous building built in 1896. It was disassembled and reassembled in the new building in 1932. It contains over 30 types of marble. Behind the bench is a frieze of 10 female figures depicting the purity of justice.

On April 22, 1930, the federal budget bureau recommended that Detroit get a new federal building and customs house at a price of nearly $5 million (about $63.9 million today). Robert O. Derrick (best known for designing the Henry Ford Museum) and Bronson V. Gander were selected as the architects of the new building.

Among the more opulent rooms in the old Federal Building was the so-called Million-Dollar Courtroom. Federal Judge Arthur J. Tuttle arranged to have his courtroom dismantled piece by piece and replaced exactly as it was in the 1897 building.

Credit line: Photographs by Carol M. Highsmith (click on picture for larger image)

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