Comprised of of two attached and interconnected steel-frame structures: a three-and one-half-story marble faces Neoclassical bank building standing at the Congress corner and an eight-story International Style Annex extending east along West Fort Street (1926-27, 1949-1951, 1951-1953), Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, architects for 1926-1927 building; Minoru Yamasaki, architect for 1949-1951 expansion and 1951-1953 renovation of the 1926-1927 building.

The original building stands on the sidewalk line at Fort/Shelby intersection, and the front of the eight-story Annex is set back from the front of the 1926 building behind a thirty-foot deep landscaped plaza. The Annex is an International Style curtain wall structure faced with alternating horizontal bands of tinted green glass and white marble panels supported by a stainless steel grid. The Annex contains the first-floor entrance to the banking area and office lobby.

A plaza and raised planting beds in front of the Annex were planned to provide rare green space downtown. The Floor plates of the two buildings are aligned, the original building's interior having been gutted converted to three stories to align with the floor plan of the Annex when the Annex was built. The fourth floor of the original building was completely demolished and a penthouse atop it projecting from the Annex provides space for a cafeteria, meeting rooms and a terrace. Both buildings have flat roofs.

The Fed abandoned its building in downtown Detroit in 2004, relocating to a spot on Warren Avenue near Eastern Market. Billionaire Dan Gilbert's real estate empire announced Jan. 30, 2012, that it had scooped up the building. Work began in 2013, and Gilbert's firm got permission from the Detroit Historic District Commission to alter the 1927 building's exterior by enlarging windows.

Rosetti, the architectural firm that handled the Federal Reserve's renovation, moved into the building in late 2013.