The City-County Building in Detroit 1955

This authentic 1950s color photograph captures the striking white facade of the newly completed City-County Building (now the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center) in Detroit, Michigan, in 1955. The image showcases the modernist architecture of the two-tower complex, clad in Vermont marble, which served as a centerpiece for the city’s mid-century Civic Center development project. In the foreground, several vintage automobiles are parked on a gravel lot, including a light green sedan and a dark black coupe, providing a vivid sense of the era’s automotive style. To the left, a weathered brick wall of an older building remains, creating a stark contrast between Detroit’s industrial past and its then-futuristic civic vision. The bright, clear blue sky emphasizes the clean vertical lines of the skyscraper towers. This high-resolution scan is a masterful record of the urban renewal that transformed the Detroit skyline during the post-war boom. This digital download is an incredible piece of local history, perfect to print for yourself as vintage Michigan wall art.