Spirit of Detroit

Detroit, Michigan, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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The Spirit of Detroit is a 26-foot bronze sculpture by Marshall Fredericks outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. Commissioned in 1955 and cast in Oslo, it was dedicated on 23 September 1958 and restored in 2024.

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Spirit of Detroit

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Site-level location · 42.3293° N, 83.0446° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Detroit's iconic bronze is a seated green giant that holds up a golden sphere in one hand and a family in the other, and it appears on the city's official logo.

Marshall Fredericks was commissioned in 1955 to make it. BridgeDetroit reports that the 26-foot figure needed a large foundry found only in Oslo, Norway, and WDIV says a German freighter brought it across the Atlantic. Historic Detroit says the cost was about $58,000 and that Fredericks waived his fee. It was dedicated on 23 September 1958. WDIV describes the sphere in the figure's left hand as emitting rays and the group of three people in its right; according to WDIV, the sphere represents God and the people represent humanity. Fredericks told the Detroit News that he tried to express the spirit of man through the deity and the family.

The sculptor never gave it the name it carries. Historic Detroit and WDIV both say the public took it from the Bible verse on the wall behind the figure. BridgeDetroit and Historic Detroit describe it as the largest cast bronze statue made since the Renaissance.

The statue is maintained by the Detroit-Wayne Joint Building Authority, which owns the building. The Fredericks museum says the bronze needs cleaning and a fresh patina about every fifteen years. From August to mid-September 2024, restoration artist Robert Zahorsky removed the old coating, found a fissure in the chin and noted chop marks left by an axe-wielding vandal, then reapplied the green patina. BridgeDetroit noted that no record of the original colour's chemistry existed, so the shade was blended using feedback from the creator's daughter. Zahorsky said it is a bit lighter than people may remember.

It is also a team mascot. Detroit dresses the figure in giant sports jerseys for playoff runs; WDIV pictured a Lions jersey on 8 January 2024.

Visitors can see the sculpture from Woodward Avenue.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

An outdoor bronze on the plaza in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, downtown Detroit, facing Woodward Avenue. The city has dressed it in oversized team jerseys during playoff runs, including a Lions jersey in January 2024 (WDIV).

ACCESS

Stands on the plaza outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (Two Woodward Avenue), downtown Detroit. It is an outdoor public sculpture, visible from the street.

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Find another Big Thing nearby

The Heidelberg Project is an outdoor art environment on Heidelberg and Elba Place streets in Detroit's McDougall-Hunt neighbourhood. Artist Tyree Guyton began it in 1986, turning vacant lots and houses into assemblages of found objects; Kresge says it is considered Detroit's earliest outdoor neighbourhood art space.

Public art

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3.8 km away

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