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Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

April 28, 2024

"United States Custom House (Manhattan)" redirects here. For a general history of the former New York Custom House, see United States Custom House (New York City).

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House (originally the New York Custom House) is a government building, museum, and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green, near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City, New York, United States. Designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style, it was erected from 1902 to 1907 by the government of the United States as a headquarters for the Port of New York's duty collection operations. The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center museum, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and the New York regional offices of the National Archives. The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is listed on both the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) as a National Historic Landmark. It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District, listed on the NRHP.

Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
New York City Landmark No. 0020, 1022
The northern (left) and western (right) facades of the Custom House in 2021
Location1 Bowling Green
Manhattan, New York
Coordinates40°42′15″N 74°00′49″W / 40.70417°N 74.01361°W / 40.70417; -74.01361
Built1901–1907
ArchitectCass Gilbert
Architectural styleBeaux-Arts
Part ofWall Street Historic District (ID07000063)
NRHP reference No.72000889[1]
NYSRHP No.06101.000049
NYCL No.0020, 1022
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJanuary 31, 1972
Designated NHLDecember 8, 1976[1]
Designated NYSRHPJune 23, 1980[2]
Designated NYCLOctober 14, 1965 (exterior)[3]
January 9, 1979 (interior)[4]

The Custom House is a seven-story steel-framed structure with a stone facade and elaborate interiors. The exterior is decorated with nautical motifs and sculptures by twelve artists. The second through fourth stories contain colonnades with Corinthian columns. The main entrance consists of a grand staircase flanked by Four Continents, a set of four statues by Daniel Chester French. The second-story entrance vestibule leads to a transverse lobby, a rotunda, and offices. The rotunda includes a skylight and ceiling murals by Reginald Marsh. The George Gustav Heye Center, a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian, operates on the ground and second stories, while the upper stories contain U.S. government offices.

The building was proposed in 1889 as a replacement for the previous New York Custom House at 55 Wall Street. Because of various disagreements, the Bowling Green Custom House was not approved until 1899; Gilbert was selected as architect following a competition. The building opened in 1907, and the murals in the rotunda were added in 1938 during a Works Progress Administration project. The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974, and it remained vacant for over a decade until renovations in the late 1980s. The Custom House was renamed in 1990 to commemorate Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury. The Heye Center opened in 1994.

Site edit

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House occupies a trapezoidal plot bounded by Bowling Green to the north, Whitehall Street to the east, Bridge Street to the south, and State Street to the west.[5][6][7] The Whitehall Street and State Street elevations are 300 feet (90 m) wide; the main elevation on Bowling Green is 200 feet (60 m) wide; and the rear elevation on Bridge Street is 290 feet (88 m) wide.[8] Nearby buildings include the International Mercantile Marine Company Building and the Bowling Green Offices Building to the northwest, 26 Broadway to the northeast, 2 Broadway to the east, and One Battery Park Plaza to the south.[5]

There are entrances to two New York City Subway stations immediately outside the Custom House. An entrance to the Whitehall Street station is adjacent to the eastern side of the building, while an entrance to the Bowling Green station is to the north.[9] The building occupies the site of Fort Amsterdam, constructed by the Dutch West India Company to defend their operations in the Hudson Valley. The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, the precursor to modern-day New York City, was developed around the fort. Bowling Green, immediately to the north, is the oldest park in New York City.[10][11] The Government House occupied the site in the late 18th century before its demolition in 1815.[12] The houses of several wealthy New Yorkers were subsequently developed at that location.[13]

Architecture edit

 
Roof detail

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House is seven stories high with a stone facade and an interior steel frame. It was designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux-Arts style.[3][14][15] The design is similar to those of previous custom houses in New York City, namely Ithiel Town's Federal Hall at 26 Wall Street and Isaiah Rogers's Merchants' Exchange building at 55 Wall Street.[4]

The building's design incorporates Beaux-Arts and City Beautiful planning principles, combining architecture, engineering, and fine arts.[10] Gilbert had written in 1900 about his plans for a wide-ranging, site-specific decorative program, which would "illustrate the commerce of ancient and modern times, both by land and sea".[16][17] Sculptures, paintings, and decorations by well-known artists of the time, such as Daniel Chester French, Karl Bitter, Louis Saint-Gaudens, and Albert Jaegers, embellish various portions of the interior and exterior.[10][18]

Facade edit

Unlike most custom houses, which face the waterfront, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House faces inland toward Bowling Green. Its main entrance is on the northern facade, the only side that does not overlook the Lower Manhattan waterfront.[14][19] The exterior is decorated throughout with nautical motifs such as dolphins and waves, interspersed with classical icons such as acanthus leaves and urns.[20]

The first-floor facade is composed of rusticated blocks[14] and is 20 feet (6.1 m) tall.[8] There are six entrances to the building.[8][16][21] The main entrance is on the northern elevation, where a wide stairway leads to the second floor.[14] Under the main entrance arch is a carving of the municipal arms of the city of New York.[18][22] The keystone at the top of the arch depicts the head of Columbia, the female personification of the United States, and was designed by Vicenzo Albani.[22] Andrew O'Connor created a cartouche for the space above the main entrance.[22][23] The lintel above the main entrance, quarried in Maine, weighed 50 short tons (45 metric tons) and measured 30 by 8 feet (9.1 by 2.4 m).[24]

The second through fourth stories contain engaged columns in the Corinthian style; some of these columns are paired while the others are single.[14][25] There are 44 columns in total: twelve each on the north, east, and west elevations and eight on the south elevation.[26] The second story is the piano nobile; the windows on this story are flanked by brackets and capped by enclosed pediments, with carved heads above them (see § Sculptures). The third- and fourth-story windows, conversely, are less ornately decorated; this was normal for Beaux-Arts buildings, which generally had greater detailing on the more visible lower levels.[14] The lintels above the third-story windows are decorated with wave motifs, while those above the fourth floor depict shells.[20] The center portion of the Bridge Street facade reaches only to the third story.[8]

The fifth-story facade consists of a full-story entablature with a frieze and short rectangular windows.[14][27] The sixth story is directly above it, while the seventh story consists of a red-slate mansard roof with dormer windows and copper cresting.[14][25] The mansard roof is extremely steep, allowing the seventh-story attic to be designed as a full floor of usable space.[25]

Sculptures edit

The Four Continents sculptures by Daniel Chester French
 
Asia
 
America
 
Europe
 
Africa

Twelve sculptors were hired to create the figural groups on the exterior.[18] The major work flanking the front steps, the Four Continents, was contracted to Daniel Chester French, who designed the sculptures with associate Adolph A. Weinman.[3][19][28] The work was made of marble[29] and sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers;[30][31][32] each sculptural group cost $13,500 (equivalent to $322,392 in 2023[a]).[17] The sculptures were produced at the Piccirilli Brothers' studio in the Bronx.[32] From east to west, the statues depict larger-than-life-size personifications of Asia, America, Europe, and Africa.[10][20][29][33] The primary figure of each group is a woman and is flanked by smaller human figures. In addition, Asia's figure is paired with a tiger, and Africa's figure is paired with a lion.[29][32][34]

 
Sculptures of seafaring nations

The capitals of each of the 44 columns are decorated with carved heads depicting Hermes, the Greek god of commerce.[21][26][35] The windows on the main facade are topped by eight keystones, which contain carved heads with depictions of eight human races.[3][14][20] One source described the keystones as representing "Caucasian, Hindu, Latin, Celt and Mongol, Italian, African, Eskimo, and even the Coureur de Bois".[21]

Above the main cornice are a group of standing sculptures that personify seafaring nations. There are twelve such statues, which depict commercial hubs through both ancient and modern history.[3][18][33] Each sculpture is 11 feet (3.4 m) tall and weighs 20 short tons (18 metric tons).[26] These sculptures are arranged in chronological sequence from east to west, or from left to right as seen from directly in front of the building. The easternmost sculptures are of ancient Greece and Rome, while the westernmost sculptures are of the more recent French and British empires.[18][33][36] Eight sculptors were commissioned for this work.[18][37] One of these sculptures, Germania by Albert Jaegers, was modified in 1918 to display Belgian insignia rather than German insignia.[38][39] Bitter created a cartouche of the United States' coat of arms for the roof.[21][23][22]

Interior edit

A barrel-vaulted entrance vestibule, supported by marble columns and decorated with multicolored mosaics, is just inside the entrance. Behind bronze gates is a passageway to the Great Hall.[14] At the center of the building is a double-height rotunda, rising to the third story.[8][16] On and above the third story, the building is arranged as a hollow quadrilateral, surrounding the rotunda.[40][41] This creates a light court above the rotunda, which measures 80 feet (24 m) wide on its north end, 120 feet (37 m) wide on its south end, and 200 feet (61 m) deep.[41]

Stairways, made of marble with iron handrails, connect the interior spaces.[16] There are elevators in each corner;[8][16] the southwestern and southeastern banks contain two elevators each, while the northwestern and northeastern banks have three elevators apiece.[27] The northwestern and northeastern elevators were originally open cages but were replaced with enclosed cabs in 1935.[42] Because the original appropriation was limited in scope, decorative elements in the initial construction were limited to several important rooms, including the rotundas, hallways, lobby, and collector's office.[23][26] The walls of these spaces are clad with marble in multiple hues, and there are nautical motifs in numerous locations.[26]

Second floor edit

 
The transverse lobby runs from east to west along the second floor.
 
The rotunda connects the lobby with the exhibition galleries of the Heye Center.

The second-floor ceiling is generally 23 feet (7.0 m) tall.[41][43] This floor consists of the former office spaces in the front and rear, the transverse lobby, and the rotunda.[23] Gilbert planned the Custom House's interior so "all entrances, corridors, stairways and passages [were] arranged on the most direct and simple axial lines".[23][44] The second-floor space, including the former offices, is almost entirely occupied by the Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian.[45]

Transverse lobby edit

The transverse lobby spans the northern end of the second floor from west to east. Generally, the more important offices were positioned north of the lobby, while divisions dealing in more routine work were relegated to the south.[23][27] Following the conversion of the second floor into the Heye Center, the former back offices have been occupied by various exhibition galleries; the cashier's office houses the museum store; and a café occupies the Northwest office adjacent to the main entrance.[45]

Membrane arches divide the lobby into five bays.[42] The floors are decorated in marble mosaic patterns. An entablature runs around the top of the lobby, with galleries on the third story.[27][46] There are two doorways on the walls, each topped by carved architraves with nautical symbols.[47][48] The doors from the lobby to the former offices are made of varnished oak and stippled glass.[49] At the center of the lobby is a three-bay-wide foyer with a pair of round arches to the north and south, which are supplemented by green Doric-style marble columns with white capitals.[23][42] The bays of the foyer are separated by marble piers.[23] Three bronze lanterns are suspended from the vaulted ceiling,[27][42][46] hanging above a red-marble disc on the floor. Elmer E. Garnsey designed murals for the ceiling.[42]

Semicircular staircases, with bronze railings and marble stair treads, flank the lobby.[14][23][27] The stairs do not have any metal support structures and are composed entirely of flat, hard-burned clay tiles.[50] Under each stair are timbrel vaults, which connect each landing. The stairs rise to the seventh floor, which contains a skylight that is meant to evoke the design of a ship's cabin.[42] Only the western stair between the first and second floors is open to the public.[45] The elevator doors in the lobby are topped by bronze transom grilles that depict a caravel or sailing ship.[42] There are two additional stairs at the rear, or southern, end of the building.[40]

Offices and rotunda edit

The collector's office is at the northwestern corner of the second floor.[27][45][51] The office contains elaborate hardwood floors and oak wainscoting designed by Tiffany Studios;[14][51] the wainscoting measures 10 feet (3.0 m) high.[40] Garnsey painted ten oil paintings, which are installed above the wainscoting.[51][52] Each painting has a gold frame and depicts a Dutch or English port in the New World.[52] The office also included a stone fireplace mantel with a plaque referencing Fort Amsterdam and the Government House.[53][54][47] The coffered plaster ceiling has molded decorations, including a motif of the collector's monogram.[51][53] Fourteen lighting fixtures, covered in gold leaf, hang from the ceiling.[55] The room is normally closed to the public but can be rented for events.[56]

The manager's office is next to the collector's office and is decorated with plain plaster walls, topped by a cornice in the Ionic order.[47][48] The northeastern corner housed the cashier's office, which featured a white-marble countertop with a bronze screen.[53][47] The southern half of the cashier's room has white-marble walls and was originally where members of the public conducted their transactions. The northern half, where the cashiers themselves worked, has plaster walls.[47][48] The ornate plasterwork ceiling is decorated to resemble Renaissance "boxed beams",[47] while the marble floor has a geometric border.[48] The former cashier's office has been incorporated into the Heye Center's museum store.[45]

The elliptical rotunda, within the building's interior courtyard, measures 85 by 135 feet (26 by 41 m)[46][57] and rises to the third story.[14] The walls and floors are composed of geometric marble tiles in several hues.[7][23] The ceiling is self-supporting, without any interior metal structure; it uses the Guastavino tile arch system created by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino. It consists of numerous layers of fireproof tiles,[b] each of which measures 6 by 12 inches (15 cm × 30 cm) across and 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. The tiles and layers are bonded using Portland cement.[46][58] The center of the ceiling is occupied by a 140-short-ton (130-metric-ton) oval skylight.[7][46][58] The underside of the ceiling bears eight trapezoidal panels, as well as eight long, narrow panels between them.[57][59] The panels contain fresco-secco murals, which were painted in 1937 by Reginald Marsh and eight assistants as part of the Treasury Relief Art Project.[60][61][62][c] The larger murals portray shipping activity in the Port of New York and New Jersey, while the smaller murals depict notable explorers of the New World and the Port of New York.[59] Several shipping companies bought lunch for Marsh while he was painting the murals; as such, the murals depict these companies' ships.[63] The rotunda can be rented for special events.[56] When the Heye Center opened within the building in 1994, it built several permanent galleries around the rotunda.[64]

Other stories edit

The ground story is 20 feet (6.1 m) tall.[21][41] It originally had six entrances: two on the front and two each on State and Whitehall Streets.[41] The Bowling Green post office, operated by the United States Postal Service, was formerly near the building's south end. The post office was located around a west–east corridor accessed by both State and Whitehall Streets.[16][65] There are also two ramps for delivery vehicles.[16] The floor surface, wainscoting, and pilasters are made of marble, and the ceilings are 17 feet (5.2 m) high.[65] In the early 1990s, a 350-seat auditorium was built on the ground story.[66] About 6,000 square feet (560 m2) of storage space on the ground floor, under the rotunda, was converted into the George Gustav Heye Center's Diker Pavilion for Native Arts and Cultures in 2006. This pavilion consists of a slightly sloped circular space seating 400 people, surrounding a maple dance floor.[67]

The Custom House's trapezoidal site was excavated to an average depth of 25 feet (7.6 m).[68] Two stories were placed beneath the ground level. The first basement was just above sea level and had a 13-foot-high (4.0 m) ceiling, while the second basement had a waterproof asphalt-and-tar floor.[41] When the post office was in operation, mail arrived through the delivery docks and was sorted in the basement.[65]

The upper stories contain office space. The outer portion of the fifth story was initially used for document storage; the windows are small apertures within the entablature, making that story unsuitable for office use.[43] The ceilings of the upper stories are between 12 and 16 feet (3.7 and 4.9 m) tall.[21][41] Some of the offices on the upper stories were ornately decorated. In particular, the Naval Commander of the Port's office at the northwest corner of the third floor was decorated in dark oak. The Treasury Secretary's office at the northeast corner of the seventh floor was finished in quartered oak and contained Circassian-walnut furniture.[40]

History edit

For further information on previous custom houses in New York City, see United States Custom House (New York City).

The United States Customs Service had been formed in 1789 with the passage of the Tariff Act, which authorized the collection of duties on imported goods.[69] The Port of New York was the primary port of entry for goods reaching the United States in the 19th century and, as such, the New York Custom House was the country's most profitable custom house.[70] Import taxes were a major revenue stream for the federal government before a national income tax was implemented in 1913 with the passage of the 16th Amendment.[69][71] The New York Custom House had supplied two-thirds of the federal government's revenue at one point.[71] Because the salary of the collector was tied to the custom house's revenue, the New York Custom House's collector earned more than the U.S. president, and the position was extremely powerful.[70][72]

 
The Merchants' Exchange Building served as New York City's custom house before the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was built.

The New York Custom House had occupied several sites in Lower Manhattan before the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was built.[6][70] The first such house was established in 1790 at South William Street.[73] The custom house moved to the Government House on the site of Fort Amsterdam in 1799.[10][74] The customs service relocated numerous times in the 19th century before opening an office at 55 Wall Street in 1862.[75] The Wall Street location had been optimal during the mid-19th century because it was close to the Subtreasury at 26 Wall Street, thereby making it easy to transport gold.[70]

Planning and construction edit

In February 1888, William J. Fryer Jr., superintendent of repairs of New York City's federal government buildings, wrote to the United States Department of the Treasury's Supervising Architect about the "old, damp, ill-lighted, badly ventilated" quarters at 55 Wall Street.[70][76] Architecture and Building magazine called the letter "worthy of thoughtful investigation".[77] The 55 Wall Street building's proximity to the Subtreasury was no longer advantageous, as it was easier to use a check or certificate to make payments on revenue.[70] On September 14, 1888, Congress passed an act that would allow site selection for a new custom house and appraiser's warehouse.[78] Soon after, Fryer presented his report to the New York State Chamber of Commerce.[76] The Chamber said in 1889: "We have not seriously considered the removal of the present Custom House proper, since it is well located, and, if found inadequate, can easily be easily be enlarged to meet all the wants of the Government for an indefinite time to come."[79]

Site selection edit

Fryer recommended Bowling Green as his first preference for a new custom house, followed by a site immediately south, along State Street north of Battery Park.[80] The U.S. House and Senate both passed a bill in March 1889, appropriating $750,000 (equivalent to $23,040,829 in 2023[a]) for a new custom house in the vicinity of Bowling Green.[81][82] That September, Treasury secretary William Windom selected Bowling Green as the new site of the custom house and appraiser's warehouse.[83][84] Almost immediately, Windom was accused of exceeding his authority in selecting the new site.[78] In addition, many local businessmen opposed moving the custom house,[85][86] and a judge ruled in 1891 that the federal government could not take the Bowling Green site by eminent domain as it had proposed to do.[87]

Both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a bill to acquire land for a new custom house in New York City, and to sell the old building, in March 1891.[88][89] The federal government appointed three commissioners to appraise the cost of acquiring land at Bowling Green; in July 1892, the appraisers estimated that the site would cost $1.96 million (about $59 million in 2023[a]).[90] Still, in January 1893, there was not enough money to purchase the lots at Bowling Green. The lessees and landowners were supposed to receive $2.1 million (equivalent to $64 million in 2023), but there was only $1.5 million on hand (equivalent to $46 million in 2023[a]). The 1891 bill had allowed up to $2 million for land acquisition and had required that the previous building be sold for at least $4 million.[91][92] Members of Congress voted against a bill in March 1893 to appropriate an additional $800,000 for the site.[93] Because of a lack of funding, the planned custom house at Bowling Green was abandoned at the end of that month.[94][95]

The project did not proceed further until January 1897, when bills for the acquisition of the Bowling Green site were introduced in both houses of Congress.[96][97] Federal legislators proposed further appropriations,[98] but the Treasury retained the disbursements that would have gone to the landowners.[92][99] The federal government chose an alternate site for the appraiser's warehouse in the West Village of Manhattan.[99]

Competition and site acquisition edit

Architectural writer Donald Reynolds stated that the new custom house was to be as modern as possible, with "an architectural style that embodied the tradition of the customs service, the federal government, and the United States with the latest building technology".[100] The Tarsney Act, passed in 1893, permitted the Supervising Architect to host a competition to hire private architects to design federal-government buildings. The act did not take effect until Treasury secretary Lyman J. Gage took office in 1897.[101] Furthermore, it was difficult for the federal government to sell the old building for the required price of $4 million (about $121 million in 2023[a]).[102] The new New York Custom House was only the fourth building to be built under the Tarsney Act.[101]

Republican Party officials wished to have complete control over spending for the new custom house building.[70] Originally, the Chamber of Commerce and many business interests advocated for erecting a new custom house on the Wall Street site, even though it was less than half the size of the proposed Bowling Green site.[92] In 1897, Senator Thomas C. Platt and Representative Lemuel E. Quigg, both Republicans, proposed bills in the United States Senate and House of Representatives for building a new custom house at Wall Street, with Platt's bill calling for a five-person commission to oversee the process.[103] The bills died at the end of the 54th United States Congress in March 1897.[104] During the 55th Congress in February 1898, legislation for the acquisition of the Bowling Green site was again proposed in the U.S. House and Senate, providing $5 million (about $156 million in 2023[a]) for land acquisition and construction.[92][105] The U.S. House and Senate passed the Bowling Green bills the next year.[106][107] At the time, most of the structures on the site were three-story houses used by steamship offices;[17] by April, agreements had been made with most of the sixteen landowners.[99][108] The federal government disbursed $2.2 million (about $68 million in 2023[a]) to landowners at the Bowling Green site that July.[109][110] The next month, the old Custom House was sold for $3.21 million (about $99 million in 2023[a]).[111]

Twenty firms were invited in May 1899 to submit designs to the competition under the terms of the Tarsney Act;[101][112] according to The New York Times, the federal government took "great care" in selecting the architects who were to be invited.[113] The government stipulated that any plan include a ground-level basement and up to six stories, as well as a southward-facing light court above the third story.[114] A committee of three men was appointed to look over the submissions.[101] By September 1899, there were two finalists: architecture firm Carrere & Hastings and architect Cass Gilbert.[6][115][116] After a plan for the two finalists to collaborate failed,[101] Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor picked Gilbert, who had been his partner at the Gilbert & Taylor architecture firm in St. Paul, Minnesota.[117] The selection of Gilbert was controversial, drawing opposition from Platt and several groups.[118][119] Some of the opposition centered around the fact that Gilbert was a "westerner" who had just moved from Minnesota to New York City, and several opponents raised doubts about the jury's competence.[101][118] After Gage certified Gilbert's selection in November 1899,[118][120] opposition to his selection decreased significantly.[118]

Construction and opening edit

Demolition of existing buildings on the site began in February 1900,[121] and demolition contractor Seagrist & Co. had cleared the site by that July.[122] The next month, workers drilled test bores for the new Custom House's foundations.[123] Contracts for the building's foundations and structural steel were delayed because the federal government had received several bids, whose estimated completion dates differed significantly.[124] Isaac A. Hopper was contracted to excavate the site that December.[125][126] The collector of the Port of New York, George R. Bidwell, claimed the contract should have been awarded to the next highest bidder, Charles T. Wills, who like Bidwell was a Republican.[125] The site was excavated to a depth of 25 feet (7.6 m), and some 2.2 million cubic feet (62,000 m3) of dirt was removed. The New-York Tribune called the site "the biggest hole that was ever made in this city over which to erect a building".[127] In December 1901, the federal government accepted contractor John Peirce's bid to erect the Custom House building's first floor.[d] Pending further appropriations, the rest of the building would also be built by Peirce.[129] At the time, there was only $3 million budgeted toward the Custom House's completion (equal to $88 million in 2023[a]).[130][131] The following November, Peirce was authorized to complete the remaining stories[132] after another $1.5 million (equal to $44 million in 2023[a]) was allocated.[131]

The cornerstone of the building was laid on October 7, 1902, in a ceremony attended by Treasury secretary Leslie M. Shaw. After a ticker tape parade down Broadway, the cornerstone, filled with contemporary souvenirs and artifacts, was placed at the northeast corner of the site.[17][133][134] The new Custom House's construction lagged due to government bureaucracy, while work on comparable private buildings nearby proceeded more quickly.[135] The slow construction was attributed to various reasons, such as concurrent jobs being undertaken by the building's contractors, money shortages, and lack of supplies.[131] Nonetheless, the building's imminent completion sparked the development of other nearby sites.[136] The Custom House was reportedly 70 percent complete by February 1905, according to Peirce.[137] That September, J. C. Robinson was contracted to furnish the interior of the building, while New-York Steam Fitting was hired to install the mechanical equipment.[138][139]

The building's first tenant was a United States Post Office Department station, which opened on the Bridge Street side of the building's ground floor in July 1906.[65] The same year, an additional $465,000 was allocated for the building's completion (equivalent to $12 million in 2023[a]).[131] By September 1907, the Custom House was ready to open.[140] The general contractors turned the building over to the federal government on October 1, 1907, after they had completed all major construction.[141][40] At the time, many of the interior furnishings had not been added.[141] The U.S. Customs Service moved its offices to Bowling Green on November 4, 1907.[142] With a proposed final cost of $4.5 million (approximately $114 million in 2023[a]), it would be more expensive than any other public building in New York City except for the Tweed Courthouse.[26]

Use by U.S. Customs Service edit

1900s to 1930s edit

 
The Custom House in 1912

Following the Customs Service's relocation to the Custom House, other government agencies with offices in New York City, such as the Weather Bureau, also moved to the Bowling Green Custom House. By 1908, the Custom House was fully occupied by these other agencies, as the Treasury's chief architect had assigned space to other departments without consulting with the collector.[143] The next year, the House of Representatives approved the installation of a pneumatic-tube system so the post office and custom house could send packages to the appraiser's warehouse.[144] A bronze tablet, marking the historical site of a Native American gathering place, was dedicated at the Custom House's main entrance in 1909.[145] Another tablet was dedicated at the Custom House in 1912, marking the site of the first mass in New York City, which had taken place in 1683.[146]

The Consular Bureau opened an office at the Custom House in 1910.[147] A regional tax office, where companies and residents in Manhattan south of 23rd Street paid taxes,[148] opened at the Bowling Green Custom House in 1914.[149] Following the U.S. entry into World War I in 1917, "individuals and patriotic societies" objected to the presence of Germany from the Custom House's sculptures, since Germany was one of the Central Powers against which the United States was fighting.[150] Federal officials determined that it was not feasible to remove the Germania statue, which weighed 5 short tons (4.5 long tons; 4.5 t).[151] Instead, in September 1918, Gilbert was directed to remove the German insignia on the entablature's Germania statue and replace them with Belgian insignia.[38][39] The U.S. Passport Agency moved to the Custom House building the next year.[152] The U.S. government proposed relocating the Customs Service's administrative offices in 1927 to the Appraiser's Stores Building, but shipping companies spoke out against the move.[153]

A plaque honoring Richard Nicolls, the first colonial governor of the Province of New York, was dedicated at the Custom House in 1931.[154] Large amounts of dirt had accumulated on the facade over the years, and workers steam-cleaned the facade and refurbished the interior in 1934.[155] During the Great Depression, in April 1937, collector Harry M. Durning commissioned Reginald Marsh to paint murals in the main rotunda as part of the Treasury Relief Art Project, with funds and assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA).[62][156] Marsh accepted the commission for $1,560 (equivalent to $33,063 in 2023), less than five percent of what he would have normally charged.[157] The ceiling of the rotunda had been undecorated white plaster when the building was erected.[57] The installation of the murals was delayed for several months because of what Marsh described as red tape;[157] the murals were completed by February 1938.[158] The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce also relocated from the building in late 1937.[159]

1940s to early 1970s edit

U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt requested in May 1939 that Congress appropriate $190,000 to renovate the Custom House.[160] Congress approved the appropriation but later reduced it by $90,000.[161][162] Durning asked Congress in 1940 to restore the appropriation, saying that "men [were] falling out of ancient chairs, and [...] our valuable records and current papers stacked on desks and improperly filed in decrepit cabinets and bookshelves".[161] At the time, the building had 1,865 employees, of which 847 worked for the Customs Service; according to Durning, the New York Custom House handled half of the United States' customs business. The building also housed the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the U.S. Post Office, the Commerce Department, and eight other agencies of the U.S. government.[163]

The Custom House's regional tax office began serving additional taxpayers in Staten Island and Midtown Manhattan in 1951.[148] The offices of the Taxpayer Assistance Program, which helped residents file their taxes, relocated from the Custom House to Lafayette Street in 1955;[164] the tax office itself relocated to Houston Street the next year.[149] Although the Port of New York remained the United States' busiest port after World War II, it had begun to decline in importance by the 1950s because of several factors. These included increasing cargo-handling and trucking costs; the decline of local railroads; the rapid growth of the southern and southwestern United States and the development of ports in these regions; and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada, which allowed ships to deliver cargo directly to the Upper Midwest.[165]

As early as 1964, the U.S. Customs Service was considering moving to the World Trade Center, which was under construction.[166] The building's other tenants at the time included the United States Coast Guard, whose Third District Search and Rescue Command was headquartered on the sixth floor.[167] As a money-saving measure, in 1965, the Custom House began using a computerized system to record ships' arrivals.[168] The Public Buildings Service, an agency of the federal government, conducted a study of the Custom House in 1967, finding that the building needed at least $8 million in renovations.[63] By the early 1970s, the facade was extremely dirty, and the front steps had been shuttered for several years because of security concerns.[63]

 
Seen at dusk in 2008

The Customs Service leased space at Six World Trade Center from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1970.[169] That year, the New York City Planning Commission considered transferring the site's unused air rights across the street to 1 Broadway, where the Walter Kidde Company planned to build a 50-story skyscraper. In exchange, the Walter Kidde Company would have been required to help preserve the Custom House.[170][171] When the Customs Service moved out during 1973,[172][173] the building had 1,375 employees, and the land under the building was estimated to be worth between $15 million and $20 million (about $79–105 million in 2023[a]).[172] The General Services Administration (GSA) acquired the Bowling Green Custom House after the Customs Service relocated.[174]

Abandonment and restoration proposals edit

1970s plans edit

Several lawyers and businessmen had formed the nonprofit Custom House Institute in late 1973.[63] With assistance from several organizations and the city government's Office of Lower Manhattan Development, the institute raised $40,000 to conduct a feasibility study of the various plans for the Custom House.[63][175] In March 1974, the institute recommended a proposal by architect I. M. Pei, who suggested converting the upper floors into office space, keeping the second-floor rotunda open, and converting the first floor to commercial use.[175][176] The next year, the federal government declared the building "surplus" property, making it available to the city government.[177] Pei's proposal was not carried out, as the GSA found the proposal to be impractical.[176] Instead, the GSA cleaned the facade during the mid-1970s.[174][178]

From 1974 on, the Custom House was largely vacant.[179] The building's primary occupant was the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, which occupied two stories;[180] the Custom House Institute occupied the first floor.[174] The other floors remained unused[174] and were seldom open to the public except for special events.[179] These included the bicentennial of the United States in 1976,[174][178] a summer arts program in 1977,[181] and another arts exhibition in 1979.[182] Different parts of the building fell into various states of disrepair. Marsh's ceiling murals and the commissioner's room remained relatively intact, but there was peeling paint in other offices, and weeds were growing from the statues outside.[179]

The GSA announced a plan in 1977 to convert the building into federal offices for $20 million,[183] but there was no progress for a year.[184] The agency indicated in January 1979 that it would spend $25 million on renovating the Bowling Green Custom House (about $85 million in 2023[a]).[185] U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan gave U.S. House representatives a tour of the building to convince them to fund its renovation. In September 1979, in part because of his advocacy, Congress approved $26.5 million for the renovation, including the restoration of Marsh's murals.[186][187] The GSA decided to host a competition for the Custom House's restoration and reuse. The entrance and rotunda were to be refurbished; the upper stories would contain upgraded offices for the federal government, while the lower stories would host a public institution.[173][184]

1980s plans edit

A joint venture of Marcel Breuer Associates, James Stewart Polshek Associates, Stewart Daniel Hoban and Associates, and Goldman-Sokolow-Copeland was selected in January 1980 to restore the building.[173][184] The joint venture planned to restore the rotunda in a way that would allow the space to be used by a variety of tenants, rather than tailoring it for a specific use.[173] Under this proposal, four 45-foot-high (14 m) atriums would have been built around the rotunda on the upper floors. In addition, the space beneath the rotunda would have been renovated, and a subway entrance would have been added.[173][188] This proposal was never carried out because of bureaucratic delays. The federal government contemplated declaring the building surplus property in February 1983, allowing federal officials to sell it to a private owner, but Moynihan intervened and convinced federal officials to keep the building.[173][189]

The GSA opened a request for proposals in November 1983, soliciting tenants for 77,000 square feet (7,200 m2) at the Custom House.[179] Six plans were presented to Manhattan Community Board 1 in August 1984.[190] The GSA gave the most consideration to two plans: one for a Holocaust museum and the other for a cultural and educational center with an ocean liner museum, restaurants, and theaters.[173][190] The community board's members were overwhelmingly in favor of the cultural and educational center, while Jewish groups preferred the Holocaust museum.[191] The Holocaust museum proposal was selected in October 1984,[192][193] prompting objections from preservationists who thought it was "inappropriate" for a Holocaust museum to be located in the Custom House.[194] New York governor Mario Cuomo proposed an alternate site in nearby Battery Park City for the museum (later known as the Museum of Jewish Heritage),[173] and the museum agreed in 1986 to relocate to Battery Park City.[195]

 
Main entrance, seen in 2013

An $18.3 million renovation (equivalent to $45 million in 2023[a]) began in August 1984.[190] Ehrenkrantz and Eckstut Architects conducted the renovation.[14][196] They cleaned, restored, and conserved exterior and ceremonial interior spaces. The restoration architects renovated old office space into federal courtrooms and ancillary offices; rental offices and meeting rooms; and a 350-seat auditorium. The building's fire-safety, security, telecommunications, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems were also upgraded.[1]

Museum of the American Indian operation edit

Agreement and renovation edit

By early 1987, Moynihan was proposing legislation that would turn over the building to the Museum of the American Indian (later the George Gustav Heye Center).[197] The museum had outgrown its existing headquarters at Audubon Terrace in Upper Manhattan, and it was considering either relocating to Texas or merging with the American Museum of Natural History.[198][199] The American Indian Community House, which wished to occupy a part of the Custom House, argued against giving the building to the Museum of the American Indian because the museum was run mostly by non-Indians.[197] At the time, the Museum of the American Indian wished to relocate because its Upper Manhattan facility was insufficient, and the Custom House was being offered as an alternative for the museum's possible relocation to Washington, D.C.[200][201] U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye introduced the National Museum of the American Indian Act the next month, which would have brought the collection to Washington, D.C., instead.[66][202]

A compromise was reached in 1988, in which the Smithsonian would build the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. The Smithsonian would also acquire the Heye collection and operate a satellite location of the museum at the Custom House.[199][66][203] The museum would only occupy the lowest floors of the Custom House; the fifth through seventh floors would be reserved for the Bankruptcy Court.[66] City officials and museum officials agreed to this compromise in January 1989,[66][204] and the National Museum of the American Indian Act was passed that November.[205] The architecture firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Whitelaw was hired in May 1990 to renovate the building.[66] The same year, the building was officially renamed after Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, by act of Congress.[206][207] The building's renovation included constructing an auditorium on the ground level; converting the cashiers' office into a visitor center; and adding gallery space, two gift shops, a theater, offices, and classrooms.[66] The renovation cost $24 million in total.[64]

Opening of museum and 21st century edit

The George Gustav Heye Center's space in the Custom House opened for previews in November 1992.[208][209] The galleries to the west, south, and east of the rotunda formally opened on October 30, 1994.[210][211] At that time, most of the space had been closed for 20 years.[212] The Heye Center was housed in the three lower stories, while the Bankruptcy Court occupied two additional stories.[196] One of the Bankruptcy Court's rooms on the fifth floor, known as the Eastern Airlines Room, had been renovated to accommodate bankruptcy hearings for large companies such as Eastern Air Lines.[213] The other two stories were vacant and had not been renovated, but the GSA planned to refurbish these stories.[196]

The museum and building were mostly undamaged by the September 11 attacks in 2001, but airborne debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center had to be cleared from some of the interior spaces.[214] The Heye Center's exhibition and public access areas originally totaled about 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2).[215] The museum expanded into part of the ground floor in 2006.[67] Six years later, the National Archives and Records Administration offices in New York moved to the Custom House.[216] As of 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection owns the Custom House.[217] In addition, the building contains the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York[218] and offices for the United States Department of Transportation.[14]

Impact edit

Reception edit

 
Ornate ceiling in the Collector's Office
 
Carvings in wooden wall panels in the Collector's Office

Gilbert stated that, during the design process, a tall dome was suggested in order to make the building into a "landmark" but that "this would wholly destroy the proportions of the building per se, and as a matter of plan, seriously impair its practical usefulness".[44] Gilbert said a 400-foot (120 m) storage tower would be more appropriate if a "landmark" was necessitated, but he believed such a tower "would add considerably to the cost".[44]

From the start, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was architecturally distinguished from other buildings in the area. The New York Times said in 1906 that "it is the unity of idea embodied in the new Custom House and enforced by the wealth of sculpture with which it is embellished, more than its mere costliness, that gives to the edifice its unique value".[26] A Times editorial the same year said that, despite the federal government's initial reluctance to decorate the Custom House lavishly, "few recall the money sunk into stone, bricks and mortar; they enjoy the final touches inside on which millions were not squandered".[23][219] The Crockery & Glass Journal stated in 1907 that the building's quality was derived from its "proportion, with rich simplicity—the Roman recipe".[40] The same year, Charles DeKay wrote for Century magazine that "at least something has been done to blunt the reproof that New York, a city by the sea, great through the ocean and our magnificent waterways, rarely remembers the sources of her wealth and greatness".[220] The Wall Street Journal wrote in 1914 that the Custom House "represents the national Government in its economic bases and financial life".[221]

Acclaim for the building continued in the decades after its completion. Architectural writer Henry Hope Reed Jr. regarded the Custom House in 1964 as "the finest public building in New York".[222] When the U.S. Customs Service relocated in 1973, Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that 6 World Trade Center's "functional, featureless grid" contrasted with the "splendor" of the Alexander Hamilton Custom House.[223] Architectural writer Robert A. M. Stern and his co-authors, in the 1983 book New York 1900, said that the Custom House and the Ellis Island immigration station were the two structures that reinforced New York City's role as "the leading American metropolis, representative of America's role in the world".[6]

After the lower floors were converted into the Heye Center, Benjamin Forgey of The Washington Post wrote that the galleries were "conceived as neutral containers, a sequence of vaulted rooms ingeniously constructed within the old building frame in order not to damage (or indeed even to touch) the original walls".[210][211] A writer for USA Today called the building "itself a sight to see".[64] Stern and his co-authors wrote in the 2006 book New York 2000 that the building, which had been one of the Financial District's "most distinguished white elephants", became a "destination spot" once the Heye Center moved in.[173] Several critics wrote about the juxtaposition of the Custom House's classical architecture and the Heye Center's focus on Native American culture, which, according to Stern and his co-authors, was largely characterized as "a culturally and stylistically inconsistent mix".[210] A writer for The Wall Street Journal believed that the museum clashed with "the Custom House itself, which with its newly cleaned ceiling murals depicting ferries and ships seems a bizarre venue for looking at Indian art".[66][209]

Landmark designations edit

The Custom House was one of the earliest designations of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, becoming an official exterior landmark in October 1965,[224][225] six months after the city's landmarks law was signed.[226][227] At the time of the exterior designation, the commission said that "At some time in the future this building may be in jeopardy", since the federal government had doubted whether the Custom House should be made a city landmark.[3] The Custom House's interior was also designated as a city landmark in January 1979.[228][229] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the designation covering both its exterior and public interior spaces. The site was also declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976[1][230][231] and was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1980.[2] In 2007, it was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District,[232] an NRHP district.[233]

See also edit

References edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved November 30, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  2. ^ The lower sections of the rotunda's ceiling are made of nine layers of tiles, while the upper sections are composed of three layers. These are arranged as two "shells" with a space between them.[46][58]
  3. ^ The assistants were Xavier J. Barile, Lloyd Lozes Goff, Mary Fife, Ludwig Mactarian, Oliver M. Baker, John Poehler, J. Walkely. and E. Volsung.[46]
  4. ^ Peirce (also spelled Pierce) was previously one of the United States' largest granite contractors. As a general building contractor, he also worked on numerous early skyscrapers, as well as the New York Public Library Main Branch.[128]

Citations edit

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  2. ^ a b "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. November 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved July 20, 2023.
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  4. ^ a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979, p. 1.
  5. ^ a b "NYCityMap". NYC.gov. New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
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  7. ^ a b c Reynolds 1994, p. 257.
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  12. ^ Stokes 1915–1928, v. 5, p. 1583.
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  15. ^ Reynolds 1994, pp. 256–257.
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  22. ^ a b c d Reynolds 1994, p. 264.
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  28. ^ Harris 2002, p. 269.
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  34. ^ Reynolds 1994, pp. 262–263.
  35. ^ Stern, Gilmartin & Massengale 1983, p. 75.
  36. ^ Reynolds 1994, pp. 263–264.
  37. ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979, pp. 4–5.
  38. ^ a b "To Change Teuton Statue; Germania on the Custom House Will Become Belgium". The New York Times. September 13, 1918. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  39. ^ a b "German Statue Will Be Belgian". New York Herald. September 13, 1918. p. 14. from the original on May 1, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
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  43. ^ a b Architects' and Builders' Magazine 1908, pp. 51–52.
  44. ^ a b c Inland Architect 1900, p. 7.
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  47. ^ a b c d e f Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979, p. 8.
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  49. ^ Reynolds 1994, pp. 259–260.
  50. ^ Architects' and Builders' Magazine 1908, p. 61.
  51. ^ a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979, p. 7.
  52. ^ a b Reynolds 1994, pp. 258–259.
  53. ^ a b c Architects' and Builders' Magazine 1908, p. 54.
  54. ^ New York State Legislature 1914.
  55. ^ Reynolds 1994, p. 258.
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  58. ^ a b c Architects' and Builders' Magazine 1908, p. 60.
  59. ^ a b Reynolds 1994, pp. 257–258.
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  • Stern, Robert A. M.; Fishman, David; Tilove, Jacob (2006). New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium. Monacelli Press. pp. 271–273. ISBN 978-1-58093-177-9. OCLC 70267065. OL 22741487M.
  • Stern, Robert A. M.; Gilmartin, Gregory; Massengale, John Montague (1983). New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism, 1890–1915. Rizzoli. ISBN 0-8478-0511-5. OCLC 9829395.
  • Stern, Robert A. M.; Mellins, Thomas; Fishman, David (1995). New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial. Monacelli Press. ISBN 1-885254-02-4. OCLC 32159240.
  • Stokes, Isaac Newton Phelps (1915–1928). The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498–1909. Robert H. Dodd.
  • Swett, Richard N.; Thornton, Colleen M. (2005). Leadership by Design: Creating an Architecture of Trust. Greenway Communications. ISBN 978-0-9755654-0-7. from the original on April 2, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  • United States Custom House Interior (PDF) (Report). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. January 9, 1979. (PDF) from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  • Vowell, Sarah (2005). Assassination Vacation. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0743260039.

External links edit

  • Official website GSA: Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
  • The short film Years of Grandeur: Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House, New York, NY (2007) is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
  • "Reginald Marsh's Custom House Murals" September 23, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, Museum of the City of New York

April 28, 2024
alexander, hamilton, custom, house, united, states, custom, house, manhattan, redirects, here, general, history, former, york, custom, house, united, states, custom, house, york, city, originally, york, custom, house, government, building, museum, former, cust. United States Custom House Manhattan redirects here For a general history of the former New York Custom House see United States Custom House New York City The Alexander Hamilton U S Custom House originally the New York Custom House is a government building museum and former custom house at 1 Bowling Green near the southern end of Manhattan in New York City New York United States Designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux Arts style it was erected from 1902 to 1907 by the government of the United States as a headquarters for the Port of New York s duty collection operations The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center museum the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and the New York regional offices of the National Archives The facade and part of the interior are New York City designated landmarks and the building is listed on both the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places NRHP as a National Historic Landmark It is also a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District listed on the NRHP Alexander Hamilton U S Custom HouseU S National Register of Historic PlacesU S National Historic LandmarkU S Historic districtContributing propertyNew York State Register of Historic PlacesNew York City Landmark No 0020 1022The northern left and western right facades of the Custom House in 2021Location1 Bowling GreenManhattan New YorkCoordinates40 42 15 N 74 00 49 W 40 70417 N 74 01361 W 40 70417 74 01361Built1901 1907ArchitectCass GilbertArchitectural styleBeaux ArtsPart ofWall Street Historic District ID07000063 NRHP reference No 72000889 1 NYSRHP No 06101 000049NYCL No 0020 1022Significant datesAdded to NRHPJanuary 31 1972Designated NHLDecember 8 1976 1 Designated NYSRHPJune 23 1980 2 Designated NYCLOctober 14 1965 exterior 3 January 9 1979 interior 4 The Custom House is a seven story steel framed structure with a stone facade and elaborate interiors The exterior is decorated with nautical motifs and sculptures by twelve artists The second through fourth stories contain colonnades with Corinthian columns The main entrance consists of a grand staircase flanked by Four Continents a set of four statues by Daniel Chester French The second story entrance vestibule leads to a transverse lobby a rotunda and offices The rotunda includes a skylight and ceiling murals by Reginald Marsh The George Gustav Heye Center a branch of the National Museum of the American Indian operates on the ground and second stories while the upper stories contain U S government offices The building was proposed in 1889 as a replacement for the previous New York Custom House at 55 Wall Street Because of various disagreements the Bowling Green Custom House was not approved until 1899 Gilbert was selected as architect following a competition The building opened in 1907 and the murals in the rotunda were added in 1938 during a Works Progress Administration project The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974 and it remained vacant for over a decade until renovations in the late 1980s The Custom House was renamed in 1990 to commemorate Alexander Hamilton one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury The Heye Center opened in 1994 Contents 1 Site 2 Architecture 2 1 Facade 2 1 1 Sculptures 2 2 Interior 2 2 1 Second floor 2 2 1 1 Transverse lobby 2 2 1 2 Offices and rotunda 2 2 2 Other stories 3 History 3 1 Planning and construction 3 1 1 Site selection 3 1 2 Competition and site acquisition 3 1 3 Construction and opening 3 2 Use by U S Customs Service 3 2 1 1900s to 1930s 3 2 2 1940s to early 1970s 3 3 Abandonment and restoration proposals 3 3 1 1970s plans 3 3 2 1980s plans 3 4 Museum of the American Indian operation 3 4 1 Agreement and renovation 3 4 2 Opening of museum and 21st century 4 Impact 4 1 Reception 4 2 Landmark designations 5 See also 6 References 6 1 Notes 6 2 Citations 6 3 Sources 7 External linksSite editThe Alexander Hamilton U S Custom House occupies a trapezoidal plot bounded by Bowling Green to the north Whitehall Street to the east Bridge Street to the south and State Street to the west 5 6 7 The Whitehall Street and State Street elevations are 300 feet 90 m wide the main elevation on Bowling Green is 200 feet 60 m wide and the rear elevation on Bridge Street is 290 feet 88 m wide 8 Nearby buildings include the International Mercantile Marine Company Building and the Bowling Green Offices Building to the northwest 26 Broadway to the northeast 2 Broadway to the east and One Battery Park Plaza to the south 5 There are entrances to two New York City Subway stations immediately outside the Custom House An entrance to the Whitehall Street station is adjacent to the eastern side of the building while an entrance to the Bowling Green station is to the north 9 The building occupies the site of Fort Amsterdam constructed by the Dutch West India Company to defend their operations in the Hudson Valley The Dutch colony of New Amsterdam the precursor to modern day New York City was developed around the fort Bowling Green immediately to the north is the oldest park in New York City 10 11 The Government House occupied the site in the late 18th century before its demolition in 1815 12 The houses of several wealthy New Yorkers were subsequently developed at that location 13 Architecture edit nbsp Roof detail The Alexander Hamilton U S Custom House is seven stories high with a stone facade and an interior steel frame It was designed by Cass Gilbert in the Beaux Arts style 3 14 15 The design is similar to those of previous custom houses in New York City namely Ithiel Town s Federal Hall at 26 Wall Street and Isaiah Rogers s Merchants Exchange building at 55 Wall Street 4 The building s design incorporates Beaux Arts and City Beautiful planning principles combining architecture engineering and fine arts 10 Gilbert had written in 1900 about his plans for a wide ranging site specific decorative program which would illustrate the commerce of ancient and modern times both by land and sea 16 17 Sculptures paintings and decorations by well known artists of the time such as Daniel Chester French Karl Bitter Louis Saint Gaudens and Albert Jaegers embellish various portions of the interior and exterior 10 18 Facade edit Unlike most custom houses which face the waterfront the Alexander Hamilton Custom House faces inland toward Bowling Green Its main entrance is on the northern facade the only side that does not overlook the Lower Manhattan waterfront 14 19 The exterior is decorated throughout with nautical motifs such as dolphins and waves interspersed with classical icons such as acanthus leaves and urns 20 The first floor facade is composed of rusticated blocks 14 and is 20 feet 6 1 m tall 8 There are six entrances to the building 8 16 21 The main entrance is on the northern elevation where a wide stairway leads to the second floor 14 Under the main entrance arch is a carving of the municipal arms of the city of New York 18 22 The keystone at the top of the arch depicts the head of Columbia the female personification of the United States and was designed by Vicenzo Albani 22 Andrew O Connor created a cartouche for the space above the main entrance 22 23 The lintel above the main entrance quarried in Maine weighed 50 short tons 45 metric tons and measured 30 by 8 feet 9 1 by 2 4 m 24 The second through fourth stories contain engaged columns in the Corinthian style some of these columns are paired while the others are single 14 25 There are 44 columns in total twelve each on the north east and west elevations and eight on the south elevation 26 The second story is the piano nobile the windows on this story are flanked by brackets and capped by enclosed pediments with carved heads above them see Sculptures The third and fourth story windows conversely are less ornately decorated this was normal for Beaux Arts buildings which generally had greater detailing on the more visible lower levels 14 The lintels above the third story windows are decorated with wave motifs while those above the fourth floor depict shells 20 The center portion of the Bridge Street facade reaches only to the third story 8 The fifth story facade consists of a full story entablature with a frieze and short rectangular windows 14 27 The sixth story is directly above it while the seventh story consists of a red slate mansard roof with dormer windows and copper cresting 14 25 The mansard roof is extremely steep allowing the seventh story attic to be designed as a full floor of usable space 25 Sculptures edit The Four Continents sculptures by Daniel Chester French nbsp Asia nbsp America nbsp Europe nbsp Africa Twelve sculptors were hired to create the figural groups on the exterior 18 The major work flanking the front steps the Four Continents was contracted to Daniel Chester French who designed the sculptures with associate Adolph A Weinman 3 19 28 The work was made of marble 29 and sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers 30 31 32 each sculptural group cost 13 500 equivalent to 322 392 in 2023 a 17 The sculptures were produced at the Piccirilli Brothers studio in the Bronx 32 From east to west the statues depict larger than life size personifications of Asia America Europe and Africa 10 20 29 33 The primary figure of each group is a woman and is flanked by smaller human figures In addition Asia s figure is paired with a tiger and Africa s figure is paired with a lion 29 32 34 nbsp Sculptures of seafaring nations The capitals of each of the 44 columns are decorated with carved heads depicting Hermes the Greek god of commerce 21 26 35 The windows on the main facade are topped by eight keystones which contain carved heads with depictions of eight human races 3 14 20 One source described the keystones as representing Caucasian Hindu Latin Celt and Mongol Italian African Eskimo and even the Coureur de Bois 21 Above the main cornice are a group of standing sculptures that personify seafaring nations There are twelve such statues which depict commercial hubs through both ancient and modern history 3 18 33 Each sculpture is 11 feet 3 4 m tall and weighs 20 short tons 18 metric tons 26 These sculptures are arranged in chronological sequence from east to west or from left to right as seen from directly in front of the building The easternmost sculptures are of ancient Greece and Rome while the westernmost sculptures are of the more recent French and British empires 18 33 36 Eight sculptors were commissioned for this work 18 37 One of these sculptures Germania by Albert Jaegers was modified in 1918 to display Belgian insignia rather than German insignia 38 39 Bitter created a cartouche of the United States coat of arms for the roof 21 23 22 Interior edit A barrel vaulted entrance vestibule supported by marble columns and decorated with multicolored mosaics is just inside the entrance Behind bronze gates is a passageway to the Great Hall 14 At the center of the building is a double height rotunda rising to the third story 8 16 On and above the third story the building is arranged as a hollow quadrilateral surrounding the rotunda 40 41 This creates a light court above the rotunda which measures 80 feet 24 m wide on its north end 120 feet 37 m wide on its south end and 200 feet 61 m deep 41 Stairways made of marble with iron handrails connect the interior spaces 16 There are elevators in each corner 8 16 the southwestern and southeastern banks contain two elevators each while the northwestern and northeastern banks have three elevators apiece 27 The northwestern and northeastern elevators were originally open cages but were replaced with enclosed cabs in 1935 42 Because the original appropriation was limited in scope decorative elements in the initial construction were limited to several important rooms including the rotundas hallways lobby and collector s office 23 26 The walls of these spaces are clad with marble in multiple hues and there are nautical motifs in numerous locations 26 Second floor edit nbsp The transverse lobby runs from east to west along the second floor nbsp The rotunda connects the lobby with the exhibition galleries of the Heye Center The second floor ceiling is generally 23 feet 7 0 m tall 41 43 This floor consists of the former office spaces in the front and rear the transverse lobby and the rotunda 23 Gilbert planned the Custom House s interior so all entrances corridors stairways and passages were arranged on the most direct and simple axial lines 23 44 The second floor space including the former offices is almost entirely occupied by the Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian 45 Transverse lobby edit The transverse lobby spans the northern end of the second floor from west to east Generally the more important offices were positioned north of the lobby while divisions dealing in more routine work were relegated to the south 23 27 Following the conversion of the second floor into the Heye Center the former back offices have been occupied by various exhibition galleries the cashier s office houses the museum store and a cafe occupies the Northwest office adjacent to the main entrance 45 Membrane arches divide the lobby into five bays 42 The floors are decorated in marble mosaic patterns An entablature runs around the top of the lobby with galleries on the third story 27 46 There are two doorways on the walls each topped by carved architraves with nautical symbols 47 48 The doors from the lobby to the former offices are made of varnished oak and stippled glass 49 At the center of the lobby is a three bay wide foyer with a pair of round arches to the north and south which are supplemented by green Doric style marble columns with white capitals 23 42 The bays of the foyer are separated by marble piers 23 Three bronze lanterns are suspended from the vaulted ceiling 27 42 46 hanging above a red marble disc on the floor Elmer E Garnsey designed murals for the ceiling 42 Semicircular staircases with bronze railings and marble stair treads flank the lobby 14 23 27 The stairs do not have any metal support structures and are composed entirely of flat hard burned clay tiles 50 Under each stair are timbrel vaults which connect each landing The stairs rise to the seventh floor which contains a skylight that is meant to evoke the design of a ship s cabin 42 Only the western stair between the first and second floors is open to the public 45 The elevator doors in the lobby are topped by bronze transom grilles that depict a caravel or sailing ship 42 There are two additional stairs at the rear or southern end of the building 40 Offices and rotunda edit The collector s office is at the northwestern corner of the second floor 27 45 51 The office contains elaborate hardwood floors and oak wainscoting designed by Tiffany Studios 14 51 the wainscoting measures 10 feet 3 0 m high 40 Garnsey painted ten oil paintings which are installed above the wainscoting 51 52 Each painting has a gold frame and depicts a Dutch or English port in the New World 52 The office also included a stone fireplace mantel with a plaque referencing Fort Amsterdam and the Government House 53 54 47 The coffered plaster ceiling has molded decorations including a motif of the collector s monogram 51 53 Fourteen lighting fixtures covered in gold leaf hang from the ceiling 55 The room is normally closed to the public but can be rented for events 56 The manager s office is next to the collector s office and is decorated with plain plaster walls topped by a cornice in the Ionic order 47 48 The northeastern corner housed the cashier s office which featured a white marble countertop with a bronze screen 53 47 The southern half of the cashier s room has white marble walls and was originally where members of the public conducted their transactions The northern half where the cashiers themselves worked has plaster walls 47 48 The ornate plasterwork ceiling is decorated to resemble Renaissance boxed beams 47 while the marble floor has a geometric border 48 The former cashier s office has been incorporated into the Heye Center s museum store 45 The elliptical rotunda within the building s interior courtyard measures 85 by 135 feet 26 by 41 m 46 57 and rises to the third story 14 The walls and floors are composed of geometric marble tiles in several hues 7 23 The ceiling is self supporting without any interior metal structure it uses the Guastavino tile arch system created by Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino It consists of numerous layers of fireproof tiles b each of which measures 6 by 12 inches 15 cm 30 cm across and 1 inch 2 5 cm thick The tiles and layers are bonded using Portland cement 46 58 The center of the ceiling is occupied by a 140 short ton 130 metric ton oval skylight 7 46 58 The underside of the ceiling bears eight trapezoidal panels as well as eight long narrow panels between them 57 59 The panels contain fresco secco murals which were painted in 1937 by Reginald Marsh and eight assistants as part of the Treasury Relief Art Project 60 61 62 c The larger murals portray shipping activity in the Port of New York and New Jersey while the smaller murals depict notable explorers of the New World and the Port of New York 59 Several shipping companies bought lunch for Marsh while he was painting the murals as such the murals depict these companies ships 63 The rotunda can be rented for special events 56 When the Heye Center opened within the building in 1994 it built several permanent galleries around the rotunda 64 Rotunda murals nbsp From left Explorer Hudson SS Washington Passing Ambrose Lightship Explorer Block nbsp Picking Up the Pilot nbsp From left Explorer Verrazano Coast Guard Cutter Calumet Meeting the SS Washington Explorer Columbus nbsp Customs Officials Boarding Liner nbsp Explorer Gomez nbsp Passing the Statue of Liberty nbsp Explorer Cabot nbsp The Press Interviewing a Celebrity nbsp Explorer Vespucius nbsp Unloading Cargo Other stories edit The ground story is 20 feet 6 1 m tall 21 41 It originally had six entrances two on the front and two each on State and Whitehall Streets 41 The Bowling Green post office operated by the United States Postal Service was formerly near the building s south end The post office was located around a west east corridor accessed by both State and Whitehall Streets 16 65 There are also two ramps for delivery vehicles 16 The floor surface wainscoting and pilasters are made of marble and the ceilings are 17 feet 5 2 m high 65 In the early 1990s a 350 seat auditorium was built on the ground story 66 About 6 000 square feet 560 m2 of storage space on the ground floor under the rotunda was converted into the George Gustav Heye Center s Diker Pavilion for Native Arts and Cultures in 2006 This pavilion consists of a slightly sloped circular space seating 400 people surrounding a maple dance floor 67 The Custom House s trapezoidal site was excavated to an average depth of 25 feet 7 6 m 68 Two stories were placed beneath the ground level The first basement was just above sea level and had a 13 foot high 4 0 m ceiling while the second basement had a waterproof asphalt and tar floor 41 When the post office was in operation mail arrived through the delivery docks and was sorted in the basement 65 The upper stories contain office space The outer portion of the fifth story was initially used for document storage the windows are small apertures within the entablature making that story unsuitable for office use 43 The ceilings of the upper stories are between 12 and 16 feet 3 7 and 4 9 m tall 21 41 Some of the offices on the upper stories were ornately decorated In particular the Naval Commander of the Port s office at the northwest corner of the third floor was decorated in dark oak The Treasury Secretary s office at the northeast corner of the seventh floor was finished in quartered oak and contained Circassian walnut furniture 40 History editFor further information on previous custom houses in New York City see United States Custom House New York City The United States Customs Service had been formed in 1789 with the passage of the Tariff Act which authorized the collection of duties on imported goods 69 The Port of New York was the primary port of entry for goods reaching the United States in the 19th century and as such the New York Custom House was the country s most profitable custom house 70 Import taxes were a major revenue stream for the federal government before a national income tax was implemented in 1913 with the passage of the 16th Amendment 69 71 The New York Custom House had supplied two thirds of the federal government s revenue at one point 71 Because the salary of the collector was tied to the custom house s revenue the New York Custom House s collector earned more than the U S president and the position was extremely powerful 70 72 nbsp The Merchants Exchange Building served as New York City s custom house before the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was built The New York Custom House had occupied several sites in Lower Manhattan before the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was built 6 70 The first such house was established in 1790 at South William Street 73 The custom house moved to the Government House on the site of Fort Amsterdam in 1799 10 74 The customs service relocated numerous times in the 19th century before opening an office at 55 Wall Street in 1862 75 The Wall Street location had been optimal during the mid 19th century because it was close to the Subtreasury at 26 Wall Street thereby making it easy to transport gold 70 Planning and construction edit In February 1888 William J Fryer Jr superintendent of repairs of New York City s federal government buildings wrote to the United States Department of the Treasury s Supervising Architect about the old damp ill lighted badly ventilated quarters at 55 Wall Street 70 76 Architecture and Building magazine called the letter worthy of thoughtful investigation 77 The 55 Wall Street building s proximity to the Subtreasury was no longer advantageous as it was easier to use a check or certificate to make payments on revenue 70 On September 14 1888 Congress passed an act that would allow site selection for a new custom house and appraiser s warehouse 78 Soon after Fryer presented his report to the New York State Chamber of Commerce 76 The Chamber said in 1889 We have not seriously considered the removal of the present Custom House proper since it is well located and if found inadequate can easily be easily be enlarged to meet all the wants of the Government for an indefinite time to come 79 Site selection edit Fryer recommended Bowling Green as his first preference for a new custom house followed by a site immediately south along State Street north of Battery Park 80 The U S House and Senate both passed a bill in March 1889 appropriating 750 000 equivalent to 23 040 829 in 2023 a for a new custom house in the vicinity of Bowling Green 81 82 That September Treasury secretary William Windom selected Bowling Green as the new site of the custom house and appraiser s warehouse 83 84 Almost immediately Windom was accused of exceeding his authority in selecting the new site 78 In addition many local businessmen opposed moving the custom house 85 86 and a judge ruled in 1891 that the federal government could not take the Bowling Green site by eminent domain as it had proposed to do 87 Both houses of the U S Congress passed a bill to acquire land for a new custom house in New York City and to sell the old building in March 1891 88 89 The federal government appointed three commissioners to appraise the cost of acquiring land at Bowling Green in July 1892 the appraisers estimated that the site would cost 1 96 million about 59 million in 2023 a 90 Still in January 1893 there was not enough money to purchase the lots at Bowling Green The lessees and landowners were supposed to receive 2 1 million equivalent to 64 million in 2023 but there was only 1 5 million on hand equivalent to 46 million in 2023 a The 1891 bill had allowed up to 2 million for land acquisition and had required that the previous building be sold for at least 4 million 91 92 Members of Congress voted against a bill in March 1893 to appropriate an additional 800 000 for the site 93 Because of a lack of funding the planned custom house at Bowling Green was abandoned at the end of that month 94 95 The project did not proceed further until January 1897 when bills for the acquisition of the Bowling Green site were introduced in both houses of Congress 96 97 Federal legislators proposed further appropriations 98 but the Treasury retained the disbursements that would have gone to the landowners 92 99 The federal government chose an alternate site for the appraiser s warehouse in the West Village of Manhattan 99 Competition and site acquisition edit Architectural writer Donald Reynolds stated that the new custom house was to be as modern as possible with an architectural style that embodied the tradition of the customs service the federal government and the United States with the latest building technology 100 The Tarsney Act passed in 1893 permitted the Supervising Architect to host a competition to hire private architects to design federal government buildings The act did not take effect until Treasury secretary Lyman J Gage took office in 1897 101 Furthermore it was difficult for the federal government to sell the old building for the required price of 4 million about 121 million in 2023 a 102 The new New York Custom House was only the fourth building to be built under the Tarsney Act 101 Republican Party officials wished to have complete control over spending for the new custom house building 70 Originally the Chamber of Commerce and many business interests advocated for erecting a new custom house on the Wall Street site even though it was less than half the size of the proposed Bowling Green site 92 In 1897 Senator Thomas C Platt and Representative Lemuel E Quigg both Republicans proposed bills in the United States Senate and House of Representatives for building a new custom house at Wall Street with Platt s bill calling for a five person commission to oversee the process 103 The bills died at the end of the 54th United States Congress in March 1897 104 During the 55th Congress in February 1898 legislation for the acquisition of the Bowling Green site was again proposed in the U S House and Senate providing 5 million about 156 million in 2023 a for land acquisition and construction 92 105 The U S House and Senate passed the Bowling Green bills the next year 106 107 At the time most of the structures on the site were three story houses used by steamship offices 17 by April agreements had been made with most of the sixteen landowners 99 108 The federal government disbursed 2 2 million about 68 million in 2023 a to landowners at the Bowling Green site that July 109 110 The next month the old Custom House was sold for 3 21 million about 99 million in 2023 a 111 Twenty firms were invited in May 1899 to submit designs to the competition under the terms of the Tarsney Act 101 112 according to The New York Times the federal government took great care in selecting the architects who were to be invited 113 The government stipulated that any plan include a ground level basement and up to six stories as well as a southward facing light court above the third story 114 A committee of three men was appointed to look over the submissions 101 By September 1899 there were two finalists architecture firm Carrere amp Hastings and architect Cass Gilbert 6 115 116 After a plan for the two finalists to collaborate failed 101 Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor picked Gilbert who had been his partner at the Gilbert amp Taylor architecture firm in St Paul Minnesota 117 The selection of Gilbert was controversial drawing opposition from Platt and several groups 118 119 Some of the opposition centered around the fact that Gilbert was a westerner who had just moved from Minnesota to New York City and several opponents raised doubts about the jury s competence 101 118 After Gage certified Gilbert s selection in November 1899 118 120 opposition to his selection decreased significantly 118 Construction and opening edit Demolition of existing buildings on the site began in February 1900 121 and demolition contractor Seagrist amp Co had cleared the site by that July 122 The next month workers drilled test bores for the new Custom House s foundations 123 Contracts for the building s foundations and structural steel were delayed because the federal government had received several bids whose estimated completion dates differed significantly 124 Isaac A Hopper was contracted to excavate the site that December 125 126 The collector of the Port of New York George R Bidwell claimed the contract should have been awarded to the next highest bidder Charles T Wills who like Bidwell was a Republican 125 The site was excavated to a depth of 25 feet 7 6 m and some 2 2 million cubic feet 62 000 m3 of dirt was removed The New York Tribune called the site the biggest hole that was ever made in this city over which to erect a building 127 In December 1901 the federal government accepted contractor John Peirce s bid to erect the Custom House building s first floor d Pending further appropriations the rest of the building would also be built by Peirce 129 At the time there was only 3 million budgeted toward the Custom House s completion equal to 88 million in 2023 a 130 131 The following November Peirce was authorized to complete the remaining stories 132 after another 1 5 million equal to 44 million in 2023 a was allocated 131 The cornerstone of the building was laid on October 7 1902 in a ceremony attended by Treasury secretary Leslie M Shaw After a ticker tape parade down Broadway the cornerstone filled with contemporary souvenirs and artifacts was placed at the northeast corner of the site 17 133 134 The new Custom House s construction lagged due to government bureaucracy while work on comparable private buildings nearby proceeded more quickly 135 The slow construction was attributed to various reasons such as concurrent jobs being undertaken by the building s contractors money shortages and lack of supplies 131 Nonetheless the building s imminent completion sparked the development of other nearby sites 136 The Custom House was reportedly 70 percent complete by February 1905 according to Peirce 137 That September J C Robinson was contracted to furnish the interior of the building while New York Steam Fitting was hired to install the mechanical equipment 138 139 The building s first tenant was a United States Post Office Department station which opened on the Bridge Street side of the building s ground floor in July 1906 65 The same year an additional 465 000 was allocated for the building s completion equivalent to 12 million in 2023 a 131 By September 1907 the Custom House was ready to open 140 The general contractors turned the building over to the federal government on October 1 1907 after they had completed all major construction 141 40 At the time many of the interior furnishings had not been added 141 The U S Customs Service moved its offices to Bowling Green on November 4 1907 142 With a proposed final cost of 4 5 million approximately 114 million in 2023 a it would be more expensive than any other public building in New York City except for the Tweed Courthouse 26 Use by U S Customs Service edit 1900s to 1930s edit nbsp The Custom House in 1912 Following the Customs Service s relocation to the Custom House other government agencies with offices in New York City such as the Weather Bureau also moved to the Bowling Green Custom House By 1908 the Custom House was fully occupied by these other agencies as the Treasury s chief architect had assigned space to other departments without consulting with the collector 143 The next year the House of Representatives approved the installation of a pneumatic tube system so the post office and custom house could send packages to the appraiser s warehouse 144 A bronze tablet marking the historical site of a Native American gathering place was dedicated at the Custom House s main entrance in 1909 145 Another tablet was dedicated at the Custom House in 1912 marking the site of the first mass in New York City which had taken place in 1683 146 The Consular Bureau opened an office at the Custom House in 1910 147 A regional tax office where companies and residents in Manhattan south of 23rd Street paid taxes 148 opened at the Bowling Green Custom House in 1914 149 Following the U S entry into World War I in 1917 individuals and patriotic societies objected to the presence of Germany from the Custom House s sculptures since Germany was one of the Central Powers against which the United States was fighting 150 Federal officials determined that it was not feasible to remove the Germania statue which weighed 5 short tons 4 5 long tons 4 5 t 151 Instead in September 1918 Gilbert was directed to remove the German insignia on the entablature s Germania statue and replace them with Belgian insignia 38 39 The U S Passport Agency moved to the Custom House building the next year 152 The U S government proposed relocating the Customs Service s administrative offices in 1927 to the Appraiser s Stores Building but shipping companies spoke out against the move 153 A plaque honoring Richard Nicolls the first colonial governor of the Province of New York was dedicated at the Custom House in 1931 154 Large amounts of dirt had accumulated on the facade over the years and workers steam cleaned the facade and refurbished the interior in 1934 155 During the Great Depression in April 1937 collector Harry M Durning commissioned Reginald Marsh to paint murals in the main rotunda as part of the Treasury Relief Art Project with funds and assistance from the Works Progress Administration WPA 62 156 Marsh accepted the commission for 1 560 equivalent to 33 063 in 2023 less than five percent of what he would have normally charged 157 The ceiling of the rotunda had been undecorated white plaster when the building was erected 57 The installation of the murals was delayed for several months because of what Marsh described as red tape 157 the murals were completed by February 1938 158 The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce also relocated from the building in late 1937 159 1940s to early 1970s edit U S president Franklin D Roosevelt requested in May 1939 that Congress appropriate 190 000 to renovate the Custom House 160 Congress approved the appropriation but later reduced it by 90 000 161 162 Durning asked Congress in 1940 to restore the appropriation saying that men were falling out of ancient chairs and our valuable records and current papers stacked on desks and improperly filed in decrepit cabinets and bookshelves 161 At the time the building had 1 865 employees of which 847 worked for the Customs Service according to Durning the New York Custom House handled half of the United States customs business The building also housed the Bureau of Internal Revenue the U S Post Office the Commerce Department and eight other agencies of the U S government 163 The Custom House s regional tax office began serving additional taxpayers in Staten Island and Midtown Manhattan in 1951 148 The offices of the Taxpayer Assistance Program which helped residents file their taxes relocated from the Custom House to Lafayette Street in 1955 164 the tax office itself relocated to Houston Street the next year 149 Although the Port of New York remained the United States busiest port after World War II it had begun to decline in importance by the 1950s because of several factors These included increasing cargo handling and trucking costs the decline of local railroads the rapid growth of the southern and southwestern United States and the development of ports in these regions and the opening of the St Lawrence Seaway in Canada which allowed ships to deliver cargo directly to the Upper Midwest 165 As early as 1964 the U S Customs Service was considering moving to the World Trade Center which was under construction 166 The building s other tenants at the time included the United States Coast Guard whose Third District Search and Rescue Command was headquartered on the sixth floor 167 As a money saving measure in 1965 the Custom House began using a computerized system to record ships arrivals 168 The Public Buildings Service an agency of the federal government conducted a study of the Custom House in 1967 finding that the building needed at least 8 million in renovations 63 By the early 1970s the facade was extremely dirty and the front steps had been shuttered for several years because of security concerns 63 nbsp Seen at dusk in 2008 The Customs Service leased space at Six World Trade Center from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1970 169 That year the New York City Planning Commission considered transferring the site s unused air rights across the street to 1 Broadway where the Walter Kidde Company planned to build a 50 story skyscraper In exchange the Walter Kidde Company would have been required to help preserve the Custom House 170 171 When the Customs Service moved out during 1973 172 173 the building had 1 375 employees and the land under the building was estimated to be worth between 15 million and 20 million about 79 105 million in 2023 a 172 The General Services Administration GSA acquired the Bowling Green Custom House after the Customs Service relocated 174 Abandonment and restoration proposals edit 1970s plans edit Several lawyers and businessmen had formed the nonprofit Custom House Institute in late 1973 63 With assistance from several organizations and the city government s Office of Lower Manhattan Development the institute raised 40 000 to conduct a feasibility study of the various plans for the Custom House 63 175 In March 1974 the institute recommended a proposal by architect I M Pei who suggested converting the upper floors into office space keeping the second floor rotunda open and converting the first floor to commercial use 175 176 The next year the federal government declared the building surplus property making it available to the city government 177 Pei s proposal was not carried out as the GSA found the proposal to be impractical 176 Instead the GSA cleaned the facade during the mid 1970s 174 178 From 1974 on the Custom House was largely vacant 179 The building s primary occupant was the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York which occupied two stories 180 the Custom House Institute occupied the first floor 174 The other floors remained unused 174 and were seldom open to the public except for special events 179 These included the bicentennial of the United States in 1976 174 178 a summer arts program in 1977 181 and another arts exhibition in 1979 182 Different parts of the building fell into various states of disrepair Marsh s ceiling murals and the commissioner s room remained relatively intact but there was peeling paint in other offices and weeds were growing from the statues outside 179 The GSA announced a plan in 1977 to convert the building into federal offices for 20 million 183 but there was no progress for a year 184 The agency indicated in January 1979 that it would spend 25 million on renovating the Bowling Green Custom House about 85 million in 2023 a 185 U S senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan gave U S House representatives a tour of the building to convince them to fund its renovation In September 1979 in part because of his advocacy Congress approved 26 5 million for the renovation including the restoration of Marsh s murals 186 187 The GSA decided to host a competition for the Custom House s restoration and reuse The entrance and rotunda were to be refurbished the upper stories would contain upgraded offices for the federal government while the lower stories would host a public institution 173 184 1980s plans edit A joint venture of Marcel Breuer Associates James Stewart Polshek Associates Stewart Daniel Hoban and Associates and Goldman Sokolow Copeland was selected in January 1980 to restore the building 173 184 The joint venture planned to restore the rotunda in a way that would allow the space to be used by a variety of tenants rather than tailoring it for a specific use 173 Under this proposal four 45 foot high 14 m atriums would have been built around the rotunda on the upper floors In addition the space beneath the rotunda would have been renovated and a subway entrance would have been added 173 188 This proposal was never carried out because of bureaucratic delays The federal government contemplated declaring the building surplus property in February 1983 allowing federal officials to sell it to a private owner but Moynihan intervened and convinced federal officials to keep the building 173 189 The GSA opened a request for proposals in November 1983 soliciting tenants for 77 000 square feet 7 200 m2 at the Custom House 179 Six plans were presented to Manhattan Community Board 1 in August 1984 190 The GSA gave the most consideration to two plans one for a Holocaust museum and the other for a cultural and educational center with an ocean liner museum restaurants and theaters 173 190 The community board s members were overwhelmingly in favor of the cultural and educational center while Jewish groups preferred the Holocaust museum 191 The Holocaust museum proposal was selected in October 1984 192 193 prompting objections from preservationists who thought it was inappropriate for a Holocaust museum to be located in the Custom House 194 New York governor Mario Cuomo proposed an alternate site in nearby Battery Park City for the museum later known as the Museum of Jewish Heritage 173 and the museum agreed in 1986 to relocate to Battery Park City 195 nbsp Main entrance seen in 2013 An 18 3 million renovation equivalent to 45 million in 2023 a began in August 1984 190 Ehrenkrantz and Eckstut Architects conducted the renovation 14 196 They cleaned restored and conserved exterior and ceremonial interior spaces The restoration architects renovated old office space into federal courtrooms and ancillary offices rental offices and meeting rooms and a 350 seat auditorium The building s fire safety security telecommunications and heating ventilation and air conditioning systems were also upgraded 1 Museum of the American Indian operation edit Agreement and renovation edit By early 1987 Moynihan was proposing legislation that would turn over the building to the Museum of the American Indian later the George Gustav Heye Center 197 The museum had outgrown its existing headquarters at Audubon Terrace in Upper Manhattan and it was considering either relocating to Texas or merging with the American Museum of Natural History 198 199 The American Indian Community House which wished to occupy a part of the Custom House argued against giving the building to the Museum of the American Indian because the museum was run mostly by non Indians 197 At the time the Museum of the American Indian wished to relocate because its Upper Manhattan facility was insufficient and the Custom House was being offered as an alternative for the museum s possible relocation to Washington D C 200 201 U S Senator Daniel Inouye introduced the National Museum of the American Indian Act the next month which would have brought the collection to Washington D C instead 66 202 A compromise was reached in 1988 in which the Smithsonian would build the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D C The Smithsonian would also acquire the Heye collection and operate a satellite location of the museum at the Custom House 199 66 203 The museum would only occupy the lowest floors of the Custom House the fifth through seventh floors would be reserved for the Bankruptcy Court 66 City officials and museum officials agreed to this compromise in January 1989 66 204 and the National Museum of the American Indian Act was passed that November 205 The architecture firm Ehrenkrantz Eckstut amp Whitelaw was hired in May 1990 to renovate the building 66 The same year the building was officially renamed after Alexander Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury by act of Congress 206 207 The building s renovation included constructing an auditorium on the ground level converting the cashiers office into a visitor center and adding gallery space two gift shops a theater offices and classrooms 66 The renovation cost 24 million in total 64 Opening of museum and 21st century edit The George Gustav Heye Center s space in the Custom House opened for previews in November 1992 208 209 The galleries to the west south and east of the rotunda formally opened on October 30 1994 210 211 At that time most of the space had been closed for 20 years 212 The Heye Center was housed in the three lower stories while the Bankruptcy Court occupied two additional stories 196 One of the Bankruptcy Court s rooms on the fifth floor known as the Eastern Airlines Room had been renovated to accommodate bankruptcy hearings for large companies such as Eastern Air Lines 213 The other two stories were vacant and had not been renovated but the GSA planned to refurbish these stories 196 The museum and building were mostly undamaged by the September 11 attacks in 2001 but airborne debris from the collapse of the World Trade Center had to be cleared from some of the interior spaces 214 The Heye Center s exhibition and public access areas originally totaled about 20 000 square feet 1 900 m2 215 The museum expanded into part of the ground floor in 2006 67 Six years later the National Archives and Records Administration offices in New York moved to the Custom House 216 As of 2024 update U S Customs and Border Protection owns the Custom House 217 In addition the building contains the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York 218 and offices for the United States Department of Transportation 14 Impact editReception edit nbsp Ornate ceiling in the Collector s Office nbsp Carvings in wooden wall panels in the Collector s Office Gilbert stated that during the design process a tall dome was suggested in order to make the building into a landmark but that this would wholly destroy the proportions of the building per se and as a matter of plan seriously impair its practical usefulness 44 Gilbert said a 400 foot 120 m storage tower would be more appropriate if a landmark was necessitated but he believed such a tower would add considerably to the cost 44 From the start the Alexander Hamilton Custom House was architecturally distinguished from other buildings in the area The New York Times said in 1906 that it is the unity of idea embodied in the new Custom House and enforced by the wealth of sculpture with which it is embellished more than its mere costliness that gives to the edifice its unique value 26 A Times editorial the same year said that despite the federal government s initial reluctance to decorate the Custom House lavishly few recall the money sunk into stone bricks and mortar they enjoy the final touches inside on which millions were not squandered 23 219 The Crockery amp Glass Journal stated in 1907 that the building s quality was derived from its proportion with rich simplicity the Roman recipe 40 The same year Charles DeKay wrote for Century magazine that at least something has been done to blunt the reproof that New York a city by the sea great through the ocean and our magnificent waterways rarely remembers the sources of her wealth and greatness 220 The Wall Street Journal wrote in 1914 that the Custom House represents the national Government in its economic bases and financial life 221 Acclaim for the building continued in the decades after its completion Architectural writer Henry Hope Reed Jr regarded the Custom House in 1964 as the finest public building in New York 222 When the U S Customs Service relocated in 1973 Ada Louise Huxtable wrote that 6 World Trade Center s functional featureless grid contrasted with the splendor of the Alexander Hamilton Custom House 223 Architectural writer Robert A M Stern and his co authors in the 1983 book New York 1900 said that the Custom House and the Ellis Island immigration station were the two structures that reinforced New York City s role as the leading American metropolis representative of America s role in the world 6 After the lower floors were converted into the Heye Center Benjamin Forgey of The Washington Post wrote that the galleries were conceived as neutral containers a sequence of vaulted rooms ingeniously constructed within the old building frame in order not to damage or indeed even to touch the original walls 210 211 A writer for USA Today called the building itself a sight to see 64 Stern and his co authors wrote in the 2006 book New York 2000 that the building which had been one of the Financial District s most distinguished white elephants became a destination spot once the Heye Center moved in 173 Several critics wrote about the juxtaposition of the Custom House s classical architecture and the Heye Center s focus on Native American culture which according to Stern and his co authors was largely characterized as a culturally and stylistically inconsistent mix 210 A writer for The Wall Street Journal believed that the museum clashed with the Custom House itself which with its newly cleaned ceiling murals depicting ferries and ships seems a bizarre venue for looking at Indian art 66 209 Landmark designations edit The Custom House was one of the earliest designations of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission becoming an official exterior landmark in October 1965 224 225 six months after the city s landmarks law was signed 226 227 At the time of the exterior designation the commission said that At some time in the future this building may be in jeopardy since the federal government had doubted whether the Custom House should be made a city landmark 3 The Custom House s interior was also designated as a city landmark in January 1979 228 229 The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 the designation covering both its exterior and public interior spaces The site was also declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 1 230 231 and was added to the New York State Register of Historic Places in 1980 2 In 2007 it was designated as a contributing property to the Wall Street Historic District 232 an NRHP district 233 See also editList of New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan below 14th Street National Historic Landmarks in New York City National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan below 14th StreetReferences editNotes edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Johnston Louis Williamson Samuel H 2023 What Was the U S GDP Then MeasuringWorth Retrieved November 30 2023 United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth series The lower sections of the rotunda s ceiling are made of nine layers of tiles while the upper sections are composed of three layers These are arranged as two shells with a space between them 46 58 The assistants were Xavier J Barile Lloyd Lozes Goff Mary Fife Ludwig Mactarian Oliver M Baker John Poehler J Walkely and E Volsung 46 Peirce also spelled Pierce was previously one of the United States largest granite contractors As a general building contractor he also worked on numerous early skyscrapers as well as the New York Public Library Main Branch 128 Citations edit a b c d United States Custom House New York National Historic Landmark summary listing National Park Service September 13 2007 Archived from the original on June 5 2011 a b Cultural Resource Information System CRIS New York State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation November 7 2014 Archived from the original on April 4 2019 Retrieved July 20 2023 a b c d e f United States Custom House PDF Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission October 14 1965 Archived PDF from the original on December 26 2016 Retrieved November 29 2019 a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 1 a b NYCityMap NYC gov New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications Archived from the original on May 24 2015 Retrieved March 20 2020 a b c d Stern Gilmartin amp Massengale 1983 p 74 a b c Reynolds 1994 p 257 a b c d e f The New Custom House PDF The Real Estate Record Real Estate Record and Builders Guide Vol 77 no 1982 March 10 1906 p 414 Archived PDF from the original on August 11 2022 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Columbia University MTA Neighborhood Maps Bowling Green 4 5 Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2018 Archived from the original on January 29 2020 Retrieved September 13 2018 a b c d e White Norval Willensky Elliot Leadon Fran 2010 AIA Guide to New York City 5th ed New York Oxford University Press p 13 ISBN 978 0 19538 386 7 To Occupy a Historic Site Memories Recalled by the Location of the New Custom House The New York Times May 7 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 15 2021 Retrieved April 15 2020 Stokes 1915 1928 v 5 p 1583 Memories of Bowling Green The Brooklyn Daily Eagle April 1 1900 p 28 ISSN 2577 9397 Retrieved April 16 2020 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Alexander Hamilton U S Custom House New York NY General Services Administration February 28 2019 Archived from the original on June 12 2019 Retrieved April 14 2020 Reynolds 1994 pp 256 257 a b c d e f g Inland Architect 1900 p 6 a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 4 a b c d e f The New Custom House Sculptures to be Placed on the Bowling Green Front by Twelve Chosen Sculptors The New York Times November 8 1903 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 1 2022 Retrieved April 16 2020 a b Stern Gilmartin amp Massengale 1983 pp 74 75 a b c d Reynolds 1994 p 262 a b c d e f Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 51 a b c d Reynolds 1994 p 264 a b c d e f g h i j k Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 5 Big Stone Safe Ashore The New York Times November 23 1904 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 1 2022 Retrieved April 17 2020 a b c Reynolds 1994 p 261 a b c d e f g World s Greatest Custom House Will Soon Be Completed Splendid Building on Bowling Green or Department Which Collected 183 000 000 for Uncle Sam Last Year Should Be Ready for Business Within 12 Months The New York Times January 14 1906 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 1 2022 Retrieved April 17 2020 a b c d e f g Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 52 Harris 2002 p 269 a b c For Four Marble Groups Symbols of Continents for the Custom House by D C French Shown The New York Times April 30 1905 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 16 2020 Custom House Statues New York Tribune November 13 1905 p 9 ISSN 1941 0646 Retrieved March 24 2020 via Newspapers com Gray Christopher October 17 1999 Streetscapes The Piccirillis Six Brothers Who Left Their Mark as Sculptors The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on January 8 2019 Retrieved April 17 2020 a b c Custom House Statues Work on Four Imposing Groups Well Under Way Statuary for the New Custom House at Bowling Green New York Tribune November 13 1905 p 9 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 571750816 a b c To Adorn New Custom House at Bowling Green the Great Groups of Statuary Now Under Way Will Symbolize the Entire World sculptors at Work New York Tribune January 17 1904 p B8 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 571525783 Reynolds 1994 pp 262 263 Stern Gilmartin amp Massengale 1983 p 75 Reynolds 1994 pp 263 264 Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 pp 4 5 a b To Change Teuton Statue Germania on the Custom House Will Become Belgium The New York Times September 13 1918 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 18 2020 a b German Statue Will Be Belgian New York Herald September 13 1918 p 14 Archived from the original on May 1 2022 Retrieved April 18 2020 via Newspapers com a b c d e f The New Custom House Completed Crockery amp Glass Journal October 3 1907 p 16 ProQuest 757763353 a b c d e f g The New York Custom House Details of the Great Structure The Wall Street Journal March 10 1906 p 6 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 129050294 a b c d e f g Reynolds 1994 p 260 a b Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 pp 51 52 a b c Inland Architect 1900 p 7 a b c d e Floor Plan and Guide PDF George Gustav Heye Center April 2018 p 3 Archived PDF from the original on January 10 2020 Retrieved April 17 2020 a b c d e f g Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 6 a b c d e f Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 8 a b c d Reynolds 1994 p 259 Reynolds 1994 pp 259 260 Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 61 a b c d Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 7 a b Reynolds 1994 pp 258 259 a b c Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 54 New York State Legislature 1914 Reynolds 1994 p 258 a b Host an Event in New York NY George Gustav Heye Center August 1 2018 Archived from the original on March 9 2020 Retrieved April 18 2020 a b c Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 56 a b c Architects and Builders Magazine 1908 p 60 a b Reynolds 1994 pp 257 258 U S Custom House Murals New York NY Living New Deal Department of Geography University of California Berkeley Archived from the original on April 26 2016 Retrieved April 25 2016 O Connor Francis V Autumn 1969 The New Deal Art Projects in New York The American Art Journal 1 2 Kennedy Galleries Inc 62 63 doi 10 2307 1593876 JSTOR 1593876 a b Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 pp 6 7 a b c d e Wallach Amei September 16 1973 Rescuing the Art of a Grander Age Newsday pp 63 76 ISSN 2574 5298 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com a b c Renovated Custom House is a work of art itself USA Today October 27 1994 p 05D ProQuest 306700683 a b c d Postal Station Moves to New Custom House New Home to Have Electric Stampers and a Tube Service The New York Times July 1 1906 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 1 2022 Retrieved April 16 2020 a b c d e f g h Stern Fishman amp Tilove 2006 p 272 a b Dunlap David W August 11 2006 Indian Museum Adds Space in the Round The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on January 28 2021 Retrieved April 17 2020 An Underground City the Huge Cellars of New york Skyscrapers Their Uses and Contents Cellar of the New Custom House in Bowling Green New York Tribune January 12 1902 p A5 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 571143745 a b Reynolds 1994 p 252 a b c d e f g Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 2 a b Vowell 2005 p 127 Hartman 1952 p 10 Stokes 1915 1928 v 2 p 301 Stokes 1915 1928 v 5 p 1263 Stokes 1915 1928 v 5 p 1367 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Dolkart Andrew S Postal Matthew A 2009 Postal Matthew A ed Guide to New York City Landmarks 4th ed New York John Wiley amp Sons p 16 ISBN 978 0 470 28963 1 a b Swett amp Thornton 2005 pp 122 123 Architecture and Building 1888 p 40 a b In and About the City Exceeded His Authority More Facts About the Selection of the Bowling Green Site The New York Times October 30 1889 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 15 2020 New York Chamber of Commerce 1889 p 37 For New Public Buildings the Report of Superintendent William J Fryer Jr The New York Times September 6 1888 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The New York Custom House Bill for the Purchase of the Bowling Green Site Passes in Senate and House The New York Times March 1 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 31 2023 New Custom House Assured the Bill Passed by Both Houses of Congress Provision for a Building on the Bowling Green Site Mr Low Takes Mr Quigg to Task New York Tribune March 1 1889 p 3 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 574585687 Bowling Green Selected to Be the Site of the Appraisers Stores The New York Times September 11 1889 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Bowling Green Chosen New York s New Custom House and Appraiser s Stores to Be Built There Reasons That Influenced Secretary Windom to Select This Site probable Cost of the Improvements New York Tribune September 11 1889 p 1 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 573578901 Object to Bowling Green Why Business Men Oppose the Removal of the Custom House The New York Times January 21 1891 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 For and Against the Site Discussing the Proposed Custom House Downtown Merchants Enthusiastic Over Secretary Windom s Decision Arguments Against It New York Tribune September 12 1889 p 3 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 573546547 It Would Be Unlawful to Condemn the Bowling Green Site as Proposed Judge Wallace Decides That If Uncle Sam Wants Land for a Custom House He Must Proceed According to State Statutes The New York Times March 17 1891 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The New Custom House Passage of the Bill Which Now Goes to the President The New York Times March 3 1891 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 15 2020 On the Bowling Green Site the House Passes the Custom House Bill a Deal Successfully Carried Out by the New York and Philadelphia Members What the Measure Provides New York Tribune March 3 1891 p 1 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 573670279 The Appraisal Completed What the Site of the New Custom House Will Cost The New York Times July 8 1892 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Pretty Badly Tangled up Matters Relating to the New Custom House Site Not Enough Money Available to Purchase the Bowling Green Property Clouds on the Titles the Courts to Be Asked to Straighten Things Out The New York Times January 12 1893 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 a b c d That New Custom House New York World February 10 1898 p 10 ISSN 1941 0654 Retrieved April 15 2020 via Newspapers com The Bowling Green Site Its Opponents Pleased at the Failure of the Appropriation The New York Times March 5 1893 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 2 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 The Bowling Green Site Abandoned The New York Times March 31 1893 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 2 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 Around the Departments the Bowling Green Site Abandoned The Washington Post March 31 1893 p 2 ISSN 0190 8286 ProQuest 139055832 New Custom House Bill Reported a Measure for the Purchase of the Bowling Green Site Also Introduced New York Tribune January 19 1897 p 2 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 574262052 New York Custom House The Murphy Bill Favorably Reported to the Senate The New York Times January 19 1897 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 2 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 New Customs House Site in New York The Brooklyn Daily Eagle December 5 1897 p 5 ISSN 2577 9397 Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 15 2020 via Brooklyn Public Library newspapers com a b c The Bowling Green Site PDF The Real Estate Record Real Estate Record and Builders Guide Vol 63 no 1624 April 29 1899 p 762 Archived PDF from the original on August 11 2022 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Columbia University Reynolds 1994 p 256 a b c d e f Landmarks Preservation Commission 1979 p 3 New Custom House Projected Collector Bidwell Enlists Secretary Gage in Favor of a Building on the Bowling Green Site The New York Times February 11 1898 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The Custom House Bill Commission Plan Accepted with Some Amendments and the Measure Reported Favorably The New York Times February 20 1897 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The New Custom House Brooklyn Times Union March 4 1897 p 4 Retrieved April 15 2020 via Newspapers com New Custom House Projected Collector Bidwell Enlists Secretary Gage in Favor of a Building on the Bowling Green Site The New York Times February 11 1898 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 31 2023 The New York Custom House Bill for the Purchase of the Bowling Green Site Passes in Senate and House The New York Times March 1 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The Outsider and the Market PDF The Real Estate Record Real Estate Record and Builders Guide Vol 63 no 1616 March 4 1899 p 366 Archived PDF from the original on June 18 2022 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Columbia University For the Custom House Site All but Three Bowling Green Property Owners Consent to Sell The New York Times April 20 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The New Custom House Site Formal Transfer of the Bowling Green Property The New York Times July 27 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Custom House Site Paid for Collector Bidwell Signs Checks for 2 197 000 and Receives the Deeds New York Tribune July 27 1899 p 14 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 574637309 Old Custom House Paid For The 3 210 000 Makes a Material Change in Treasury Statement The New York Times August 30 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 New York Custom House Government Invites Twenty Firms of Architects to Compete The New York Times May 12 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 The New Custom House Invitations to Submit Plans for the Bowling Green Building to be Sent to Twenty Architects To day The New York Times May 3 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 2 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 New Custom House Plans Architects Who Are to Compete for the Design Receive the Government s Specifications The New York Times June 23 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Custom House Plans Chosen Committee Selects Those of Carrere amp Hastings and Cass Gilbert One of Them May Withdraw The New York Times September 24 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Two Custom House Ideas New York World September 25 1899 p 5 ISSN 1941 0654 Retrieved April 15 2020 via Newspapers com Lee 2000 p 197 a b c d First Picture of New Custom House to be Built on Bowling Green New York World November 6 1899 p 4 ISSN 1941 0654 Retrieved February 2 2020 via Newspapers com Senator Platt and the Custom House The New York Times October 25 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on August 15 2020 Retrieved April 15 2020 Custom House Architect Secretary Gage Accepts the Plans of Cass Gilbert The New York Times November 4 1899 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 New Custom House Site Work of Tearing Down Old Buildings Will Go on at Once The New York Times February 2 1900 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 7 2019 Retrieved April 16 2020 Work on the New Custom House Progress Outlined by Mr Gilbert the Architect New York Tribune July 29 1900 p A2 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 570809254 Custom House Foundations Borings Being Made on the Site for the New Building The New York Times August 14 1900 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 Delay in Custom House Contract New York Tribune December 5 1900 p 10 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 570871459 a b Dispute on Custom House Bids Officials Contend That Hopper s is Not Really as Low as Charles T Wills s New York Tribune December 20 1900 p 6 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 570885378 New Custom House Contract Bid of Isaac A Hopper amp Son of This City Accepted by the Treasury The New York Times December 23 1900 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 An Underground City New York Tribune January 12 1902 p 21 ISSN 1941 0646 Retrieved April 16 2020 via Newspapers com John Peirce Residence PDF Report New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission June 23 2009 pp 4 5 Archived PDF from the original on June 10 2021 Retrieved February 2 2020 To Build New Custom House Pierce Has First Story Contract The New York Times December 3 1901 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 16 2020 May Delay Work on the New Custom House Controller of the Treasury Gives an Important Decision The New York Times November 22 1901 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 16 2020 a b c d Wonderful Pile New York Tribune June 30 1907 p 58 ISSN 1941 0646 Retrieved April 16 2020 via Newspapers com News of the Day Briefly Told Brooklyn Standard Union November 8 1902 p 4 Retrieved April 17 2020 via Newspapers com Cornerstone of New Custom House Laid Secretary Shaw Performs Ceremony and Makes an Address Plea for Interchangeability of All Forms of Our Money with Gold English the Language of Commerce The New York Times October 8 1902 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 15 2020 New Custom House Formally Begun Brooklyn Standard Union October 7 1902 p 12 Retrieved April 17 2020 via Newspapers com Contractors Rush Skyscrapers While Public Buildings Creep The New Custom House Public Library and Hall of Records Tied Down by Government Red Tape The New York Times November 30 1902 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 16 2020 Influence of Custom House on Surrounding Property Further Building Operations Looked for Upon Completion of that Structure The New York Times December 10 1905 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on June 9 2018 Retrieved April 16 2020 Building Operations South of Chambers Street PDF The Real Estate Record Real Estate Record and Builders Guide Vol 75 no 1925 February 4 1905 p 244 Archived PDF from the original on July 24 2020 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Columbia University Custom House Contract Let The New York Times September 1 1905 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 31 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 Contracts for New Custom House New York Tribune September 1 1905 p 9 ISSN 1941 0646 Retrieved April 16 2020 via Newspapers com Custom House Opening New Building to be Dedicated on September 23 The New York Times September 11 1907 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 16 2020 a b Contractors Finish New Custom House The Bowling Green Building Is Formally Turned Over to the Government The New York Times October 2 1907 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved March 31 2023 Old Custom House Vacated The New York Times November 3 1907 p 6 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 16 2020 via Newspapers com Custom House Full Collector Fowler Finds That Uncle Sam Is Letting in Other Tenants The New York Times January 30 1908 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 18 2020 Tubes for Custom House Pneumatic System for Sending Packages to Appraisers Offices The New York Times February 23 1909 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 17 2020 Mark Historic Spots Tablets Unveiled Indians Dance on Bowling Green During Custom House Ceremonies New York Tribune September 30 1909 p 3 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 572300997 Tablet Where First Mass Was Said Here It Will Be Unveiled at Custom House on Decoration Day and Accepted by Collector Loeb The New York Times May 26 1912 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 New Help to Foreign Trade Consular Bureau Plan to be Extended to Several Cities The New York Times December 29 1913 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 31 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 a b Tax District Extended More Residents Now Required to File at Custom House The New York Times February 5 1951 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 31 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 a b U S Taxes Office to Move Monday 5 Billion a Year Branch Is Quitting Custom House for 245 West Houston St The New York Times November 29 1956 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Statue of Germania Stirs New Protests McAdoo Asked to Remove Representation of Dishonored Nation from Custom House The New York Times September 1 1918 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 6 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 Can t Get Germania Off Customs House New York Tribune August 15 1918 p 12 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 Passport Agency Moves to Custom House The New York Times July 26 1919 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 18 2020 Oppose Removal of Customs Offices Shipping Interests Tell Federal Agent That Custom House Is Ideal Location The New York Times December 17 1927 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 31 2023 Retrieved March 31 2023 Nicolls Memorial Tablet Unveiled at Custom House New York Herald Tribune June 9 1931 p 25 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1114113643 64 000 Cleaning Job On Custom House Starts New York Herald Tribune July 24 1934 p 8 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1222252497 Murals Approved for Custom House Eight Panels Depicting Scenes of Modern Shipping to Adorn Dome of Rotunda The New York Times April 16 1937 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 4 2018 Retrieved April 18 2020 a b Marsh Bewails Red Tape As Brake on Mural Work Artist at Customs House Sees 3 More Months of Labor Artist Does Custom House Murals on Clerk s Pay New York Herald Tribune August 5 1937 p 15 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1243561955 The New Marsh Murals in the New York Custom House New York Herald Tribune February 13 1938 p F4 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1352680376 To Move Commerce Dept Office The Wall Street Journal November 6 1937 p 6 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 129736892 Asks N Y Custom House Repairs New York Herald Tribune May 16 1939 p 2 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1247100057 a b Renovation Urged for Custom House Durning Makes a Desperate Effort to Get 190 000 From Congress for Purpose The New York Times February 5 1940 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 18 2020 Durning Awaits Action On Plea for New Files Hopes Congress Will Restore 90 000 Cut From Budget Antiquated Filing Used in New York Custom House New York Herald Tribune February 6 1940 p 11 ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 124294397 Custom House Would Unsnarl Its Red Tape Durning Seeks 190 000 to Free Millions of Paper in 150 Year Old File New York Herald Tribune February 5 1940 p 13A ISSN 1941 0646 ProQuest 1242985996 Tax Aid is Shifted From Custom House The New York Times December 26 1955 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 Kenney Harry C December 24 1962 New York Port Takes Inventory Hard Work Emphasized The Christian Science Monitor p 2 ProQuest 510401027 Site Tests Begin for Trade Center Realty Men Say Borings Are Designed to Fool Public The New York Times June 10 1964 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Nobbe George February 28 1965 Disaster Is Their Business New York Daily News pp 153 154 ISSN 2692 1251 Archived from the original on April 6 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com Callahan John P July 18 1965 Computers Come to Custom House Machines Used to Compile Data on Vessels in Port The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 Bamberger Werner June 7 1970 Custom House to Get an 18 Million Home The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on March 22 2022 Retrieved April 19 2020 Burks Edward C April 9 1970 Planners Seek to Shift Custom House Air Rights The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 3 2020 Retrieved April 3 2023 Wheeler George April 11 1970 There Are All Kinds of Pollution Newsday p 53 ISSN 2574 5298 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com a b Bamberger Werner September 4 1973 U S Prepares to Vacate The 1907 Custom House The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 3 2023 a b c d e f g h i Stern Fishman amp Tilove 2006 p 271 a b c d e Wins Molly July 1 1976 Restored Custom House Glows for Bicentennial The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 a b Tomasson Robert E March 17 1974 A 25 Million Renovation Of Custom House Studied The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on October 4 2022 Retrieved October 4 2022 a b Stern Mellins amp Fishman 1995 p 1133 U S Custom House Is Declared Surplus So City Can Get It The New York Times March 13 1975 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 a b Stathos Harry July 2 1976 Visitors Declare Old Custom House a Hit New York Daily News p 241 ISSN 2692 1251 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com a b c d Dunlap David W November 11 1983 After Decade of Abandonment Custom House Invites Tenants The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 24 2015 Retrieved April 17 2020 Mangaliman Jessie December 15 1988 Custom House and Tree Lighted Newsday p 24 ISSN 2574 5298 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com U S Custom House Will Reopen On Wednesday as an Arts Center The New York Times June 25 1977 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Rockwell John May 4 1979 Custom House Is Setting For a World Of New Arts The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Horsley Carter B November 30 1977 About Real Estate The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 6 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 a b c Huxtable Ada Louise June 1 1980 Architecture View An Enlightened Plan for Converting the Custom House The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 2 2023 Retrieved May 2 2023 Customs House to get clean face New York Daily News January 11 1979 p 354 ISSN 2692 1251 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com McNeil Donald G Jr September 14 1979 Senate Unit Approves 29 2 Million Project at Old Custom House The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Custom House Renovation Newsday September 14 1979 p 26 ProQuest 963731961 Polshek James Stewart 1988 Notes on My Life and Work James Stewart Polshek Context and Responsibility Buildings and Projects 1957 1987 Rizzoli pp 41 42 ISBN 978 0 8478 0876 2 Lewis George February 1983 Custom House PDF Oculus Vol 44 no 6 p 7 Archived PDF from the original on August 9 2020 Retrieved May 2 2023 a b c Dunlap David W August 2 1984 Plans for Custom House Are Presented to Board The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on January 30 2018 Retrieved April 15 2020 Freedman Samuel G September 19 1984 2 Groups Vying for Custom House The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on January 30 2018 Retrieved April 15 2020 Berger Joseph October 18 1984 Custom House Will Be Museum on Holocaust The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 24 2015 Retrieved April 19 2020 U S Agency Advances Use of New York Custom House as Holocaust Memorial The Hartford Courant Associated Press October 18 1984 p A5a ISSN 1047 4153 ProQuest 547402956 Oreskes Michael April 5 1985 Battery Park City Offers Holocaust Museum a Site The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 28 2017 Retrieved April 19 2020 Berger Joseph September 5 1986 Holocaust Memorial to Rise Near Battery Park The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on February 3 2018 Retrieved April 19 2020 a b c Postings Museum of the American Indian to Open Next Sunday Changing Roles for a Once Empty Landmark The New York Times October 23 1994 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 26 2015 Retrieved April 14 2020 a b Martin Douglas February 5 1987 Indians Quarrel Over Custom House The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 8 2017 Retrieved April 15 2020 Stern Fishman amp Tilove 2006 pp 271 272 a b Molotsky Irvin April 13 1988 Compromise Is Reached to Keep Indian Museum in New York City The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 25 2015 Retrieved April 19 2020 Morgan Thomas July 17 1987 Fast Action Urged for Indian Museum The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 1 2017 Retrieved April 19 2020 Carroll Robert July 17 1940 City losing its Indian museum New York Daily News p 139 ISSN 2692 1251 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Newspapers com Molotsky Irvin September 30 1987 Inouye Seeks to Move Indian Museum to Capital The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on November 1 2017 Retrieved April 19 2020 Compromise would keep Indian Museum in NYC White Plains Journal News April 13 1988 p 14 Retrieved April 17 2020 via Newspapers com Molotsky Irvin January 26 1989 Agreement Reached on Indian Museum Shift The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 2 2023 Retrieved May 2 2023 An act to establish the National Museum of the American Indian within the Smithsonian Institution and for other purposes PDF Public Law 101 185 101st United States Congress November 28 1989 Archived PDF from the original on August 4 2019 Retrieved April 19 2020 Archived August 4 2019 at the Wayback Machine An act to redesignate the Federal building located at 1 Bowling Green in New York New York as the Alexander Hamilton United States Custom House PDF Public Law 101 456 101st United States Congress October 24 1990 Archived PDF from the original on April 18 2021 Archived April 18 2021 at the Wayback Machine Custom name New York Daily News October 18 1990 p 45 ISSN 2692 1251 Retrieved April 19 2020 via Newspapers com Reif Rita November 15 1992 Museum Displays Indian Artifacts The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on August 13 2022 Retrieved August 13 2022 a b Gamerman Amy November 17 1992 Indian Museum Takes Shelter in Beaux Arts Walkup The Wall Street Journal p A16 ISSN 0099 9660 ProQuest 398384134 a b c Stern Fishman amp Tilove 2006 p 273 a b Forgey Benjamin October 30 1994 A New Duty Imposed At the Custom House The Washington Post p G04 ISSN 0190 8286 ProQuest 307763403 Dunn Ashley October 9 1994 A Heritage Reclaimed From Old Artifacts American Indians Shape a New Museum The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on February 5 2018 Retrieved April 19 2020 Andrews Edmund L February 3 1992 Crash Landing Zone The Bankruptcy Court for Highfliers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on August 13 2022 Retrieved August 13 2022 Quay amp Damico 2010 p 265 Shenon Philip August 29 2004 Travel Advisory Correspondent s Report A Showcase for Indian Artifacts The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 28 2015 Retrieved April 17 2020 Lee Felicia R September 14 2012 National Archives in New York to Move to Custom House ArtsBeat Archived from the original on December 3 2019 Retrieved April 16 2020 1 Bowling Green 10004 New York City Department of City Planning Archived from the original on February 6 2022 Retrieved March 25 2021 Manhattan United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York December 1 2003 Archived from the original on August 14 2022 Retrieved August 13 2022 Decorations for the Customs House The New York Times October 7 1906 ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 17 2020 New York s Artistic Custom house Current Literature Vol XI April 1906 p 390 ProQuest 124791483 New York Real Estate in the Financial District The Wall Street Journal October 10 1914 p 7 ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved April 18 2020 via Newspapers com Art Flourishes in Old Buildings Turn of Century Creations Abundant Downtown The New York Times April 20 1964 ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 4 2022 Retrieved April 19 2020 Huxtable Ada Louise October 4 1973 New Custom House Modern Functional No Match for the Old The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved April 19 2020 Hanson Kitty October 18 1965 Help Landmarks Group Issues Civic SOC New York Daily News p 474 ISSN 2692 1251 Archived from the original on April 5 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 via newspapers com Fowle Farnsworth October 18 1965 First Official Landmarks of City Designated 20 Sites Listed Each to Get Year s Grace The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on April 6 2023 Retrieved April 3 2023 New York City Landmarks Law The New York Preservation Archive Project Archived from the original on April 21 2020 Retrieved April 14 2020 Ennis Thomas W April 20 1965 Landmarks Bill Signed by Mayor Wagner Approves It Despite Protests of Realty Men The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Archived from the original on May 3 2021 Retrieved April 3 2023 Yacht Club Fights Landmark Status Newsday 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is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive Reginald Marsh s Custom House Murals Archived September 23 2020 at the Wayback Machine Museum of the City of New York Portals nbsp Architecture nbsp National Register of Historic Places nbsp New York City nbsp United StatesAlexander Hamilton U S Custom House at Wikipedia s sister projects nbsp Media from Commons Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alexander Hamilton U S Custom House amp oldid 1220388593, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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