Boston Custom House, Federal government building in Financial District, Boston, US
Boston Custom House is a Federal building with 36 fluted Doric columns carved from single blocks of Quincy granite that form its distinctive front facade. The ground floor houses a maritime museum while upper floors serve as hotel and timeshare accommodations, making it a mixed-use structure.
Construction of this building began after President Andrew Jackson authorized it in 1837, with the structure opening in 1849 as a customs operation center. It witnessed Boston's growth as a major port city and housed the city's customs administration for generations.
This building once symbolized Boston's role as a major shipping and customs hub for the entire region. Today visitors can explore a maritime museum on the ground floor that tells the story of the port's past.
You can enter the building through the ground floor where the maritime museum is located, then take the elevator to the 26th-floor observation deck. From there, you get wide views of Boston Harbor and the surrounding cityscape of the Financial District.
The entire building rests on three thousand wooden piles driven deep into the ground to reach solid bedrock beneath what was once marshland. This invisible engineering feat from the 1800s continues to support the structure today.
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