{"nrhp_refnum":"74000666","name":"U.S. Customhouse","other_names":["Custom House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1-3 E. Bay St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Savannah","county":"Chatham County","state":"GA","lat":32.08057889400004,"lon":-81.09085416899995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-05-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Greek Revival granite federal custom house at 1-3 East Bay Street in Savannah, Georgia, designed and supervised by New York architect John S. Norris and completed in 1852.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it one of the most architecturally significant public buildings in Savannah and a symbol of the city's role as Georgia's port. It also stands on a historically important site tied to Oglethorpe and John Wesley, and it housed the federal court that tried the yacht Wanderer slave-importation case in 1860.","narrative":"Overlooking Factor's Walk at the corner of East Bay and Bull Streets in Savannah, this granite building was completed in 1852 as the federal custom house. New York architect John S. Norris designed it and supervised construction. It is a rectangular Greek Revival structure with a raised basement and two floors, built of dressed gray granite from Quincy, Massachusetts. Six monolithic fluted columns with tobacco-leaf capitals support the front portico. Inside, a central double circular marble stair beneath a semicircular skylight remains unaltered. The site was earlier linked to James Edward Oglethorpe and to John Wesley's first sermon in America in 1736. The building housed the federal court, where the yacht Wanderer was tried in 1860 as the last violation of the law against importing slaves. In March 1861 the Confederate flag flew from its staff. Exterior changes have been minor, and it is now used only for customs services.","period_of_significance":"19th Century; completed 1852","architect_builder":"John S. Norris (architect and superintendent of construction)","architectural_style":"Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition marked excellent and slightly altered; occupied, in government use, now used solely for customs-related services.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:41.365055-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/74000666.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000666/08716a26da-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74000666/08716a26da-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_Customhouse02.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Savannah_Customhouse02.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000277","name":"Savannah Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/savannah-historic-district-66000277/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207369","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Customhouse_(Savannah,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7889714"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/chatham-county/u-s-customhouse-74000666/"}