{"nrhp_refnum":"69000359","name":"U.S. Post Office and Customhouse","other_names":["Customs House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1000 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Richmond (Independent City)","county":"Richmond (city and county)","state":"VA","lat":37.53779566900005,"lon":-77.43466129799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1969-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A government building at 1000 E. Main Street in Richmond, Virginia, originally built as a granite Italianate-style Post Office and Customs House and completed in 1858, later enlarged several times.","why_significant":"It was designed by Boston architect Ammi B. Young and completed in 1858. During the Civil War the Confederate Treasury Department and the office of President Jefferson Davis were housed there, and Davis's 1867 treason proceedings were held in its District Courtroom. Its location also makes it a screen across the bottom of Capitol Square and a focal point for Main Street.","narrative":"Occupying the block between Bank and Main Streets in Richmond, this federal building began as a granite Post Office and Customs House designed by Boston architect Ammi B. Young, with Captain Albert Lybrock of Richmond as supervising architect. Completed in 1858, it originally had round-arched openings, quoins, a bracketed cornice, a shallow hipped roof and a triple-arch entrance porch. Its narrow end faced the State Capitol. Three years after completion the Confederate government took it over, and during the war it housed the Confederate Treasury Department and the office of President Jefferson Davis. In 1867 Davis's treason trial was held in its District Courtroom. Additions came in 1889, 1910, when a story was added and a wing extended the building to Tenth Street, and 1930, when an eastern wing filled the block. None of the historic interiors survived, but the original architectural character was retained, and the building still screens the foot of Capitol Square and anchors the Main Street view.","period_of_significance":"1858","architect_builder":"Ammi B. Young (architect); Captain Albert Lybrock of Richmond (supervising architect)","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as fair and altered; the building is publicly owned, occupied and in use as a post office, and none of the historic interiors survive.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:58.117946-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/95/6831/41683195/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/69000359.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000359/eaef6899cc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/69000359/eaef6899cc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Acroterion","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richmond_Federal_Appeals_Court_and_skyline_VA1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Acroterion</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:Richmond_Federal_Appeals_Court_and_skyline_VA1.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"05000527","name":"Main Street Banking Historic District (Additional Documentation)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/virginia/main-street-banking-historic-district-additional-documentation-05000527/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683195","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell_Jr._United_States_Courthouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6536542"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/richmond/u-s-post-office-and-customhouse-69000359/"}