{"nrhp_refnum":"66000768","name":"Long Wharf and Custom House Block","other_names":[],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Foot of State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.36016898400007,"lon":-71.04869302584989,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1966-11-13","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1966-11-13","areas_of_significance":["Commerce"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Long Wharf and its two surviving buildings, the Custom House Block (1848) and the Chart House, at the foot of State Street on the Boston waterfront. The wharf was begun in 1710 and extended about half a mile into the harbor.","why_significant":"Long Wharf was the center of Boston's maritime trade and, by the end of the 18th century, the most prominent of the city's 80 wharves. Boston was the largest colonial American port until 1756. The Custom House Block and Chart House help the wharf keep its historic character and show monumental granite and earlier warehouse building forms.","narrative":"Long Wharf extends into Boston Harbor from the foot of State Street. It was authorized in 1710 to a group headed by Captain Oliver Noyes and grew to roughly half a mile long, letting ships unload directly into warehouses. It became the center of Boston's maritime trade and, by the late 1700s, the most prominent of the city's 80 wharves. Later projects, including Commercial Street, Atlantic Avenue and repeated widenings, shortened and reshaped it. Today it measures about 640 feet by 280 feet, and older granite bulkheads and possible timber remains lie beneath the paving. Two buildings survive. The Custom House Block, completed in 1848, is a Greek Revival warehouse row with a granite front and brick ends, five stories in the center. The Chart House, a brick warehouse of 3.5 stories dating from the 1830s and possibly partly from 1763, shows the smaller earlier warehouse type. The wharf was recognized for its role in colonial and 19th-century trade.","period_of_significance":"c. 1710-1855","architect_builder":"Oliver Noyes (?)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival (Custom House Block); no style (wharf)","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The wharf is used by excursion boats and water taxis, with a parking lot on the north side. The Custom House Block was renovated in the 1970s for shops, offices and apartments, and the Chart House became a restaurant in 1973.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.724015-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/7938/63793873/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/66000768_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000768/1b924c504c-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/66000768/1b924c504c-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Gardiner_Building,_now_Chart_House_restaurant,_Long_Wharf,_Boston.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2017_Gardiner_Building,_now_Chart_House_restaurant,_Long_Wharf,_Boston.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793873","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Wharf_and_Customhouse_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6673406"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/long-wharf-and-custom-house-block-66000768/"}