U. S. Custom House
- Title:
- U. S. Custom House
- Collection:
- Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection
- Creator:
- Young, Ammi B. (American architect, 1798-1874)
- Location:
- Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, United States
- Country:
- United States
- ID Number:
- 10016019
- Accession Number:
- 15/5/3090.00252
- Collection Number:
- 15-5-3090
- File Name:
- 10016019.jpg
- Materials/Techniques:
- albumen prints
- Subject:
- Architecture
Drawings
Corinthian columns
harbors
public buildings by function
customhouses
government office buildings
porticoes
Custom House, Charleston, South Carolina
photographs - Measurement:
- 19.05 x 33.02 (centimeters)
- Description:
- "The Charleston, South Carolina, United States Custom House: The cruciform building, executed in the Roman Corinthian order, is monumental in scale, measuring 259 feet on its east-west axis and 152 feet on its north-south axis. Prior to the construction of the Custom House, port business was transacted in the Exchange. In need of larger facilities, this site between East Bay and the Cooper River was purchased by Congress in 1849. It was formerly the site of Craven's Bastion, a colonial-era fortification. Although a competi tion for the design contract was won by Charleston architect Edward C. Jones, federal authorities awarded the project to Ammi Burnham Young. Young was the Supervising Architect of the U. S. Treasury Building, and one of 19th-century America's leading architects. His design for the Custom House appar ently coordinated various elements of the competition drawings. Noted Charleston architect, Edward Brickell White acted as superintendent of construction which began in 1853. Hampered by unforseen engineering problems of the site, the building was unfinished at the outbreak of the Civil War. Constru ction was suspended until 1870, when architect A.B. Mullet arranged for further Congressional appropriations to complete the war damaged building. To reduce costs and hasten completion, Mullet's plan modified the east and west porticoes and omitted a dome and side porticoes of the original design. F inally complete in 1879, this building has been used ever since as a United States Custom House." (Source: National Register of Historic Places, Charleston, SC site, )
- Source:
- Data from: A.D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library
http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/adw/albumen.htm - Cite As:
- Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photograph Collection, #15-5-3090. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- Andrew Dickson White architectural photograph collection
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in this collection are in the public domain and are believed to have no known U.S. copyright or other restrictions. The Library does not charge for permission to use these materials and does not grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute them. However, as a good scholarly practice we recommend that all patrons cite the Library as the source of the reproduction. For a more detailed explanation please read the Library Guidelines for Using Public Domain Text, Images, Audio, and Video Reproduced from Cornell University Library Collections at http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/CULCopyright.