{"nrhp_refnum":"73001227","name":"U.S. Customhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2245 Whirlpool St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Niagara Falls","county":"Niagara County","state":"NY","lat":43.10969878900005,"lon":-79.05560382099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-07-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-a-half-story stone customs house at 2245 Whirlpool Street, Niagara Falls, New York, built in 1863 beside the railroad bridges to Canada and set into a railroad embankment.","why_significant":"It was built in 1863, when the Port of Entry moved from Lewiston to the Suspension Bridge section of Niagara Falls. It has served a customs function almost continuously for about 110 years. Its location made it a gateway to the west and one of the most important nineteenth-century ports of entry.","narrative":"Beside the railroad approaches to the Niagara River bridges, this stone customs house at 2245 Whirlpool Street in Niagara Falls was built in 1863, the year the Port of Entry moved from Lewiston to the Suspension Bridge area. The two-and-a-half-story building is set into a railroad embankment, so its second story opens directly onto the tracks, where a customs office still serves passing trains. Over time it housed both a post office and customs service until 1906, then other uses, including a button factory during World War I. A fire around 1924 gutted the original three-story building, and the 1927-28 renovation lowered the roof and added a new Whirlpool Street entrance after the railroad loop was relocated. Customs operations returned in 1928 and stayed until 1962. Its significance rests on its architecture, commerce and transportation roles, and on the continuity of its function at a busy international crossing.","period_of_significance":"19th and 20th centuries (specific date 1863)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition is stated as good and altered. The building is vacant except for a customs office on the second floor, southeast corner.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.820549-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/73001227.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001227/9e9ed4a0e9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001227/9e9ed4a0e9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Adam Moss","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niagara_Falls_Station_and_Customhouse_Interpretive_Center.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Adam Moss</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niagara_Falls_Station_and_Customhouse_Interpretive_Center.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75320151","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Falls_station_(New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7889706"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/niagara-county/u-s-customhouse-73001227/"}