2. UNITED STATES CUSTOMHOUSE, SE corner Bull and E. Bay Sts., a large structure of granite blocks, was designed by John S. Norris and erected in 1850 on the site of the colony's first public building. The six monolithic granite columns of the stately portico are capped with carved tobacco leaves instead of the usual acanthus. On this site in 1736 John Wesley preached his first sermon in Savannah; the event is commemorated by a tablet on the corner of the Bull Street side. The tablet on the corner of the Bay Street facade marks the site of a small frame house that Oglethorpe used for headquarters.
--- Georgia: A Guide to Its Towns and Countryside, 1940
From the Historic Federal Buildings web site:
The United States Custom House in Savannah was built in 1852 and is Georgia's oldest Federal building. The site of the building was important from the beginning of Savannah history. A one-story frame house, built in 1733, was located on the site and was rented by James Oglethorpe, founder of the colony, on his return visits to Savannah. At the rear of the lot facing Bull Street, stood the Tabernacle and Court House. This building was described as "being one handsome room with a piache on three sides" and served as the colony's first house of worship. It was on this site that John Wesley, founder of the Methodist church, preached his first sermon on American soil.
In July of 1789 the first Congress of the United States passed the Tariff Act of 1789. Four weeks later it enacted the statute which established the collection of duties set forth in this tariff. Thus the U.S. Custom Service was born. The original Custom House in Savannah was located on Commerce Row on Bay Street. Later Custom Houses were located at East Bryan Street and at the City Exchange.
In 1845 the Federal government purchased the site at the corner of Bull and Bay Streets for a new Custom House. John S. Norris, a New York architect, was employed as both designer and supervisor of construction. The cornerstone was laid with full Masonic honors on July 20, 1848.
All of the granite in the building was brought from New England (primarily Quincy, Massachusetts) by rail and by ship. The monolithic granite columns on the main (east) elevation are estimated to weigh between fifteen and twenty tons each, and were freighted from Massachusetts lashed to the decks of ships. It took thirty days to transport each column up the thirty-eight foot bluff from the river to the building site. Each column was lifted off the ship with a block and tackle system and inched up the bluff on rollers. Once on the site it took another thirty days to raise each column into place.
By July 29, 1852, construction was complete and the architect, John Norris, invited the public to view the new Custom House. The city's Post Office occupied the basement, the Custom Service offices were on the first (main) floor, and the Federal Court occupied the second floor. The famous case of the yacht "Wanderer" was tried in this court in 1860. The case was tried as the last violation of the law against the importation of slaves.
In 1972, the Bureau of Customs designated the Custom House as one of the eight historic Custom Houses in the nation. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1988 the building was designated as one of thirteen Bicentennial Custom Houses in celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States Custom Service.
The historical marker reads:
The United States Customhouse stands on historic ground. In a house on this site, James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the colony of Georgia, lived for a time, and in 1736 John Wesley preached his first sermon at Savannah in a building which stood on the rear of the lot.
The cornerstone of the Customhouse was laid in 1848. The building was completed in 1852 at a cost of $146,000. Built of granite from Quincy, Mass., the structure is one of the most handsome and substantial public buildings erected in that era. The magnificent fluted columns have tobacco leaves as capitals instead of the traditional decorations. The columns, each weighing fifteen tons, were brought to Savannah by sailing vessels. The unusual inside stairway divides at one-half height forming into circular stairs with no perpendicular support.
Although the building is used primarily by the United States Customs Service, it houses several Federal agencies. In earlier years it also served as a Post Office and Federal Courthouse. In 1859-1860 the celebrates cases growing out of slave-running by the yacht "Wanderer" were tried here before Justice Wayne of the U.S. Supreme Court.