The Wayne County Building is a large and important government structure located at 600 Randolph Street in Downtown Detroit, Michigan. It used to house the Wayne County administrative offices and its courthouse. These offices are now located in the Guardian Building at 500 Griswold Street. As the Wayne County Courthouse, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. When it was completed in 1902, it was considered "one of the most sumptuous buildings in Michigan."
Architecture
The building was designed by Detroit architects John and Arthur Scott. It was constructed from 1897 to 1902 and may be one of the nation's finest surviving examples of Roman Baroque Revival architecture, combining elements of Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical styles.
The building has five floors and was built using copper, granite, and stone. The outside is heavily decorated with sculptures, while the inside is finished with different types of wood, marble, tiles, and mosaics. The exterior uses a type of yellow sandstone called Berea. The front of the building has a basement with rough, textured stone and a decorative railing between the third and fourth floors. At the main entrance, a wide set of stairs leads to a two-story portico with columns in the Corinthian style. The structure includes a tall, four-level roof with a central tower and smaller buildings on either side. The courthouse tower was originally 227 feet 8 and a half inches tall. In the 1960s, the copper dome and spire were replaced, increasing the tower’s height to 247 feet.
The sculptures on the outside, including the Anthony Wayne pediment, were created by Detroit sculptor Edward Wagner. Other sculptures, such as two quadrigas (carvings of chariots pulled by horses), Victory and Progress, and four figures on the tower representing Law, Commerce, Agriculture, and Mechanics, were sculpted by New York artist J. Massey Rhind. These sculptures were made by William H. Mullins, a resident of Salem, Ohio, in 1903.
On the opposite end of Campus Martius stood the old Detroit City Hall, and the two buildings were placed on opposite ends of the area like bookends.
A renovation was completed in 1987 by Quinn Evans Architects and Smith, Hinchman & Grylls Associates.
Recent news
On July 18, 2007, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano announced that Wayne County had agreed to buy the Guardian Building to move its offices from the Wayne County Building. The purchase would begin when the county's lease on its current building ended in 2008. This decision aimed to end a challenging relationship between the building's owners and the county. On July 21, 2007, the Detroit Free Press newspaper published a front-page story about the current landlord offering the county a lower rent to stay in the building.
In July 2014, the Wayne County Commission approved selling the building and a county-owned parking lot at 400 E. Fort Street to an investment group from New York called 600 Randolph SN LLC for $13.4 million. From March 2016 to October 2018, the building was renovated with $7 million spent on improving exterior lighting, masonry, and windows.
In February 2021, the building was put up for sale, but the price was not disclosed.
Gallery
- Wayne County Building in 2014
- Wayne County Building at night in 2015
- Artwork titled Victory and Progress by J. Massey Rhind
- Artwork by J. Massey Rhind
- Artwork by J. Massey Rhind
- Artwork by J. Massey Rhind
- Artwork by J. Massey Rhind
- Triangular section designed by Edward Wagner
- Tall, pointed structure
- One Detroit Center shares similar architectural features
- Located at the intersection of Brush and Congress streets
- Renaissance Center alongside the Wayne County Building
- Wayne County Building in 1899
- Wayne County Building, around the year 1900