Monthly Group Walk- November 30, 2009

This month's group walk led us to yet another under-rated lower Manhattan landmark, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.

In its heyday, the Custom House was a bustling place of activity as brokers and customs agents worked together building the wealth of this nation.


In 1899 the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury held a national competition for the design of a new Custom House, which was to be built fronting Bowling Green—the same site as the Dutch Custom House (in what was then Fort Amsterdam), and the Government House, which served as the U.S. Custom House from 1789 to 1815. Twenty architectural firms submitted competition entries, and the contract was awarded to Cass Gilbert (1859-1934), a well-regarded young New York architect. By 1900, New York was the premier port of entry in the U.S., producing 65 percent of the gross national customs revenue. The new Custom House would have to reflect the presence of the federal government and the importance of the U.S. Customs Service as the nation’s most important port of entry.


Today, the Custom House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places for both exterior and public interior spaces, is home to the New York branch of the National Museum of the American Indian as well as the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York and several art galleries.