Ethereum

Highrise #48

Collection

Highrises

Description

**Custom House** **Art by:** Chris Hytha **Story by:** Mark Houser As a federal office, the Custom House in Boston was exempt from the city’s strict building code height restrictions. For decades it dominated the harborfront, buzzing with the activity of customs agents collecting tariffs on imported goods unloaded from ships docked at the wharf. Before the United States adopted the income tax, tariffs and customs duties were the main source of federal revenue. When the busy port of Boston outgrew its 1847 custom house, a committee decided to preserve the stately edifice while shooting a tower nearly 500 feet tall through the top of its original dome. The unorthodox design was one of the last by Boston architects Robert Peabody and John Stearns, who died in 1917 at their respective summer homes within a week of each other. The property was converted into a timeshare hotel in 1997, and guests now gather in its former counting room each morning for the breakfast buffet. Its impressive multistory rotunda is ringed with the flags of prominent merchant shipping firms from long ago. Above the tower clock faces, an outdoor public observatory offers spectacular views from all four sides. Visits are free and require only an advance reservation.

Traits

Style

Neoclassical

City

Boston

Region

Northeast