The spires and facade are the focal point of Sweetest Heart of Mary Church. The highly ornamental facade up to a height of forty-two feet is of Berea stone and blocks. In its upper reaches it is brick work with-stone trimmings. The front has a most elaborate main entrance which is flanked by two side entrances of lesser proportions. There is also an ornamented entrance from the Canfield side. Above the main portal is a niche which harbors a six-foot statue of the Virgin Mary, the patroness of the parish, capped by a pinnacle surmounted with a cross. Behind it is a most interesting star-designed facade-window. The gable above it is highly ornamented and again it is also topped with a cross. The acute angles of the tops of the side windows and of the transept are also crowned with crosses. Pinnacles are used extensively on the spires themselves and all along the exterior of the sides. Terra-cotta ornamentation enters freely into the exterior of the entire edifice which is of stock and pressed brick. All of these appointments in the facade and in the entire exterior evoke wonderment and inspiration in the beholder.

The twin graceful steeples of the church, which soar heavenward to the height of 217 feet, make it a splendid monument of the piety and industry of the Pioneer Detroit Polanders and a very visible landmark of Old Detroit. In the north tower are housed three huge bells: St. Mary - A (above C); St. Joseph - F sharp; and St. Barbara - E flat. The original plan to place four additional bells in the south tower never materialized. A slender fleche (spire) surmounted the juncture of the nave and the transept. It had deteriorated to such an extent that for reasons of safety it had to be removed in the late 1970s.