U.S. Custom House (Baltimore, Maryland)
Encyclopedia
U.S. Custom House is a historic custom house
building located at Baltimore
, Maryland
, United States
. It is a granite, steel frame structure measuring 252 feet, 8 inches by 139 feet 6 inches. It is an exceptionally distinguished example of Beaux Arts architecture and was built from 1903 through late 1907 from plans by Hornblower and Marshall, a Washington, D.C. firm. The ceiling of the Call Room, located in the pavilion, was painted by Francis Davis Millet
(1846–1912). It served as Baltimore’s Custom House until 1953. Since that time Selective Service System
personnel have occupied the building.
U.S. Custom House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1974.
established the United States Customs Service
and named Baltimore as one of 59 collection districts. The first Baltimore custom house was at the intersection of Gay and Water Streets, across from the present location. Around 1820 the government began to rent a wing of the Merchants' Exchange Building to house the Customs Service. Designed by Maximilian Godefroy
and Benjamin Henry Latrobe and constructed in 1816-1820, the Merchant's Exchange Building continued to house the Customs Service through the end of the 19th century.
In 1900 the Treasury Department held a design competition for Baltimore's third custom house. It was to be built on the site of the Merchant's Exchange. The winning entry was by the prominent Washington, D.C.
firm of Hornblower and Marshall.
The building's cornerstone was laid on June 13, 1903 in a ceremony attended by several hundred people. On February 7–8, 1904 as construction neared the third floor, a catastrophic fire swept through downtown Baltimore
. Over 1,500 buildings were destroyed, and the Custom House suffered major damage. Many of the granite blocks had been split by the heat. These had to be removed and replaced in what proved to be a difficult and costly process. The structure's northwest corner was almost entirely rebuilt. Despite this setback, construction continued, and the building was completed and occupied at the end of 1907.
From the time of its completion, the Custom House was widely praised as a triumph of both design and workmanship. In 1908, the American Architect and Building News declared, "The result achieved by the intelligent cooperation of architect and artist stamps Baltimore's new Custom House as among the most successful public buildings erected in this country." Today the Custom House remains an outstanding interpretation of the Beaux-Arts vision and a monument to the dignity of the federal government.
, on a gently sloping site bounded by Gay, Lombard, and Water Streets. The six-story building, 92 feet high from base to roof balustrade, displays an axial symmetry and imposing presence characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style. The building's architects, Joseph C. Hornblower (1848–1908) and John Rush Marshall (1851–1927), began their careers in the Office of the Supervising Architect
of the Treasury Department
. They used Hornblower's training at the École des Beaux-Arts
and the experiences of their European tours to apply French academic planning and organizational principles to American civic architecture.
The steel structure and masonry bearing walls are faced with granite quarried near Laurel, Maryland
, and Mount Airy, North Carolina
. The primary facade fronts Gay Street. A smooth-faced basement level (extending from grade up to a watertable course) rises to a heavily rusticated first floor. The second through fourth stories are articulated by three-story engaged Ionic columns
, flanking the recessed window bays. Alternating segmental and triangular pediments carried on consoles top the second-story windows. The smooth columns support a full entablature and roof balustrade, which wrap around the building and conceal the attic story and flat roof.
The Gay Street entrance is approached by marble steps that are flanked by plinth
s with wrought-iron lamp standards with lamps resembling 18th century ship's stern lanterns. The entrance doors are protected behind wrought-iron grillework.
The west (Commerce Street) side of the building reveals an "E-shaped" plan. The double-story Call Room pavilion forms the middle arm of the "E" and is on axis with the entrance. Rusticated corners flank a five-bay window arcade. The window spandrels are decorated with carvings depicting sea monsters, shells, and other nautical ornamentation that reflect the Custom House's proximity to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A balustraded parapet shields the copper-clad roof of the pavilion.
The main lobby has a marble floor with an inlaid brass compass design. The walls are paneled with variegated marble. The lobby is flanked by elevators and stairhalls, with marble stairs and ornamental iron and brass railings. A narrow corridor connects the lobby to the historic Call Room where customs revenues were paid.
The Call Room is the Custom House's most impressive, and historically significant, space. The walls have paired Ionic
pilaster
s supporting an entablature
with a paneled frieze
. The paneled cove rises to the central ceiling panel, measuring 63 feet by 30 feet, and adorned with a mural
entitled Entering the Harbour. It depicts a fleet of ten sailing vessels: ships including a whaler
, bark
s, a barquentine
, a brig
, and a schooner
entering the harbor. The panels of the cove
and frieze
, five lunette
s on the east wall, and the borders of the ceiling panel depict the evolution of navigation. They portray over 125 vessels, from ancient Egyptian ships to the R.M.S. Mauretania
of 1907, accompanied by J. P. Morgan
's yacht, the Corsair. All of the murals were painted by Francis Davis Millet
, a prominent American muralist of the period. Millet died just a few years after these murals were completed, perishing along with over 1,500 others in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912.
After four years of renovation and modernization work, the Custom House formally reopened in 1997.
Custom House
A custom house or customs house was a building housing the offices for the government officials who processed the paperwork for the import and export of goods into and out of a country. Customs officials also collected customs duty on imported goods....
building located at Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is a granite, steel frame structure measuring 252 feet, 8 inches by 139 feet 6 inches. It is an exceptionally distinguished example of Beaux Arts architecture and was built from 1903 through late 1907 from plans by Hornblower and Marshall, a Washington, D.C. firm. The ceiling of the Call Room, located in the pavilion, was painted by Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet was an American painter, sculptor, and writer who died in the sinking of the on April 15, 1912.-Early life:Francis Davis Millet was born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts...
(1846–1912). It served as Baltimore’s Custom House until 1953. Since that time Selective Service System
Selective Service System
The Selective Service System is a means by which the United States government maintains information on those potentially subject to military conscription. Most male U.S. citizens and male immigrant non-citizens between the ages of 18 and 25 are required by law to have registered within 30 days of...
personnel have occupied the building.
U.S. Custom House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1974.
Building history
In the 18th and 19th centuries, Baltimore flourished as one of the nation's major commercial ports, its economy growing as foreign trade increased. In 1789, the First U.S. Congress1st United States Congress
-House of Representatives:During this congress, five House seats were added for North Carolina and one House seat was added for Rhode Island when they ratified the Constitution.-Senate:* President: John Adams * President pro tempore: John Langdon...
established the United States Customs Service
United States Customs Service
Until March 2003, the United States Customs Service was an agency of the U.S. federal government that collected import tariffs and performed other selected border security duties.Before it was rolled into form part of the U.S...
and named Baltimore as one of 59 collection districts. The first Baltimore custom house was at the intersection of Gay and Water Streets, across from the present location. Around 1820 the government began to rent a wing of the Merchants' Exchange Building to house the Customs Service. Designed by Maximilian Godefroy
Maximilian Godefroy
Maximilian Godefroy was an architect born about 1770 in France. During the French Revolution he fought on the Royalist side, was imprisoned in the fortress of Bellegarde, then released about 1805 and allowed to come to the United States. He later relocated to Baltimore, Maryland, where became an...
and Benjamin Henry Latrobe and constructed in 1816-1820, the Merchant's Exchange Building continued to house the Customs Service through the end of the 19th century.
In 1900 the Treasury Department held a design competition for Baltimore's third custom house. It was to be built on the site of the Merchant's Exchange. The winning entry was by the prominent Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
firm of Hornblower and Marshall.
The building's cornerstone was laid on June 13, 1903 in a ceremony attended by several hundred people. On February 7–8, 1904 as construction neared the third floor, a catastrophic fire swept through downtown Baltimore
Great Baltimore Fire
The Great Baltimore Fire raged in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, on Sunday, February 7, and Monday, February 8, 1904. 1,231 firefighters were required to bring the blaze under control...
. Over 1,500 buildings were destroyed, and the Custom House suffered major damage. Many of the granite blocks had been split by the heat. These had to be removed and replaced in what proved to be a difficult and costly process. The structure's northwest corner was almost entirely rebuilt. Despite this setback, construction continued, and the building was completed and occupied at the end of 1907.
From the time of its completion, the Custom House was widely praised as a triumph of both design and workmanship. In 1908, the American Architect and Building News declared, "The result achieved by the intelligent cooperation of architect and artist stamps Baltimore's new Custom House as among the most successful public buildings erected in this country." Today the Custom House remains an outstanding interpretation of the Beaux-Arts vision and a monument to the dignity of the federal government.
Architecture
The U.S. Custom House in Baltimore is located two blocks north of the Inner HarborInner Harbor
The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and iconic landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the...
, on a gently sloping site bounded by Gay, Lombard, and Water Streets. The six-story building, 92 feet high from base to roof balustrade, displays an axial symmetry and imposing presence characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style. The building's architects, Joseph C. Hornblower (1848–1908) and John Rush Marshall (1851–1927), began their careers in the Office of the Supervising Architect
Office of the Supervising Architect
The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....
of the Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
. They used Hornblower's training at the École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts
École des Beaux-Arts refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The most famous is the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, now located on the left bank in Paris, across the Seine from the Louvre, in the 6th arrondissement. The school has a history spanning more than 350 years,...
and the experiences of their European tours to apply French academic planning and organizational principles to American civic architecture.
The steel structure and masonry bearing walls are faced with granite quarried near Laurel, Maryland
Laurel, Maryland
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...
, and Mount Airy, North Carolina
Mount Airy, North Carolina
Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,388.-History:Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem and Galax, Virginia. It was named for a nearby plantation...
. The primary facade fronts Gay Street. A smooth-faced basement level (extending from grade up to a watertable course) rises to a heavily rusticated first floor. The second through fourth stories are articulated by three-story engaged Ionic columns
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
, flanking the recessed window bays. Alternating segmental and triangular pediments carried on consoles top the second-story windows. The smooth columns support a full entablature and roof balustrade, which wrap around the building and conceal the attic story and flat roof.
The Gay Street entrance is approached by marble steps that are flanked by plinth
Plinth
In architecture, a plinth is the base or platform upon which a column, pedestal, statue, monument or structure rests. Gottfried Semper's The Four Elements of Architecture posited that the plinth, the hearth, the roof, and the wall make up all of architectural theory. The plinth usually rests...
s with wrought-iron lamp standards with lamps resembling 18th century ship's stern lanterns. The entrance doors are protected behind wrought-iron grillework.
The west (Commerce Street) side of the building reveals an "E-shaped" plan. The double-story Call Room pavilion forms the middle arm of the "E" and is on axis with the entrance. Rusticated corners flank a five-bay window arcade. The window spandrels are decorated with carvings depicting sea monsters, shells, and other nautical ornamentation that reflect the Custom House's proximity to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. A balustraded parapet shields the copper-clad roof of the pavilion.
The main lobby has a marble floor with an inlaid brass compass design. The walls are paneled with variegated marble. The lobby is flanked by elevators and stairhalls, with marble stairs and ornamental iron and brass railings. A narrow corridor connects the lobby to the historic Call Room where customs revenues were paid.
The Call Room is the Custom House's most impressive, and historically significant, space. The walls have paired Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s supporting an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
with a paneled frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
. The paneled cove rises to the central ceiling panel, measuring 63 feet by 30 feet, and adorned with a mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
entitled Entering the Harbour. It depicts a fleet of ten sailing vessels: ships including a whaler
Whaler
A whaler is a specialized ship, designed for whaling, the catching and/or processing of whales. The former included the whale catcher, a steam or diesel-driven vessel with a harpoon gun mounted at its bows. The latter included such vessels as the sail or steam-driven whaleship of the 16th to early...
, bark
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
s, a barquentine
Barquentine
A barquentine is a sailing vessel with three or more masts; with a square rigged foremast and fore-and-aft rigged main, mizzen and any other masts.-Modern barquentine sailing rig:...
, a brig
Brig
A brig is a sailing vessel with two square-rigged masts. During the Age of Sail, brigs were seen as fast and manoeuvrable and were used as both naval warships and merchant vessels. They were especially popular in the 18th and early 19th centuries...
, and a schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....
entering the harbor. The panels of the cove
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
and frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
, five lunette
Lunette
In architecture, a lunette is a half-moon shaped space, either filled with recessed masonry or void. A lunette is formed when a horizontal cornice transects a round-headed arch at the level of the imposts, where the arch springs. If a door is set within a round-headed arch, the space within the...
s on the east wall, and the borders of the ceiling panel depict the evolution of navigation. They portray over 125 vessels, from ancient Egyptian ships to the R.M.S. Mauretania
RMS Mauretania (1906)
RMS Mauretania was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear for the British Cunard Line, and launched on 20 September 1906. At the time, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world. Mauretania became a favourite among...
of 1907, accompanied by J. P. Morgan
J. P. Morgan
John Pierpont Morgan was an American financier, banker and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. In 1892 Morgan arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric...
's yacht, the Corsair. All of the murals were painted by Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet
Francis Davis Millet was an American painter, sculptor, and writer who died in the sinking of the on April 15, 1912.-Early life:Francis Davis Millet was born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts...
, a prominent American muralist of the period. Millet died just a few years after these murals were completed, perishing along with over 1,500 others in the sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic in 1912.
After four years of renovation and modernization work, the Custom House formally reopened in 1997.
Significant events
- 1789: The U.S. Customs Service is established, and Baltimore is named as one of 59 collection districts.
- 1816-1820: The Merchant's Exchange Building, designed by Maximilian Godefroy and Benjamin H. Latrobe, is constructed; one wing is used for Customs Service.
- 1900: Hornblower and Marshall are selected as architects for the new Custom House.
- 1903: The cornerstone of the present-day Custom House is laid on the former site of the Exchange Building.
- 1904: A devastating fire ravages a seventy-block area of Baltimore, damaging the unfinished Custom House.
- 1907: Construction is completed.
- 1972: The building is designated one of America's twelve Historic Custom Houses.
- 1974: The Custom House is listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
- 1997: The Custom House is formally reopened after a four-year renovation project.
External links
- U.S. Custom House, Baltimore City, including undated photo, at Maryland Historical Trust