{"nrhp_refnum":"73000321","name":"Custom House District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Between J.F.K. Expwy. and Kirby St. and S. Market and High and Batterymarch Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Boston","county":"Suffolk County","state":"MA","lat":42.35812750000005,"lon":-71.05365968035187,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Architecture","Community Planning and Development"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 15.9-acre historic commercial district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, near the old waterfront, centered on State, Broad and Milk Streets and McKinley Square. It contains Federal-style brick buildings of about 1810 and later granite and Victorian commercial buildings.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district reflects foresighted urban planning by the Broad Street Association, led by Uriah Cotting with Charles Bulfinch as planner. It preserves the only surviving Federal-style buildings from Bulfinch's waterfront scheme. It also displays a varied mix of commercial architecture, including the Greek Revival Custom House, granite warehouses and Romanesque Revival buildings, reflecting Boston's growth as a mercantile city.","narrative":"This 15.9-acre district in downtown Boston grew from the city's old waterfront, where State Street, Long Wharf, Broad Street and Milk Street met the harbor. In 1805 the Broad Street Association, led by Uriah Cotting with Charles Bulfinch as planner, filled land south of Long Wharf and laid out wide streets lined with uniform brick buildings. The oldest surviving buildings, from about 1810, are four-story Federal-style structures on Broad and Milk Streets, along with the remaining units of Central Wharf of 1819. Later additions include the Greek Revival Custom House by Ammi B. Young, built 1834-47 and topped by a tower in 1913-15, the Romanesque Revival Grain and Flour Exchange, massive granite warehouses, mansard-roofed Victorian buildings, and a cast-iron storefront. The district was listed because it shows how planned development allowed a varied but cohesive group of commercial buildings to evolve alongside Boston's mercantile growth.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles Bulfinch (planner, Broad Street Association); Ammi B. Young (Custom House); Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge (Grain and Flour Exchange); Gridley J. F. Bryant (State Street Block); William G. Preston (Chadwick Lead Works); Ball and Dabney (Harvard Club)","architectural_style":"Mixed commercial architecture: Federal, Greek Revival, Romanesque Revival, Victorian and granite warehouse styles","criteria":[],"status_note":"The Pond Building at 1 Faneuil Hall Square was later noted as destroyed by fire; the Custom House was vacated by the federal government in 1986.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:53.442456-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/18/7968/63796818/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/73000321.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000321/832d2556fa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000321/832d2556fa-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Detroit Publishing Company","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CustomHouseTower_Boston_DetroitCo.jpeg\" rel=\"noopener\">Detroit Publishing Company</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CustomHouseTower_Boston_DetroitCo.jpeg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796818","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custom_House_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5196389"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/suffolk-county/custom-house-district-73000321/"}