Custom House - Massachusetts Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Located at 3 McKinley Square, Boston's Custom House is one of its skyline's most recognizable landmarks. It is of such historic worth that it has two plaques - one from Boston 200, the other from the Bostonian Society. The Boston 200 plaque reads:

"Built on the water's edge at the foot of State Street between 1837 and 1847, the Custom House was a focal point of Boston's old waterfront. It was a controversial building in its day. Critics thought its Greek Revival style was old-fashioned, and its 32 columns, each a single 42-ton piece of granite, too ponderous. Others, including the architect Ammi Young, thought these same features well suited to the site.
In 1911, an added tower made the Custom House Boston's first skyscraper and an excellent place to enjoy a panorama of the harbor."

Accompanying the text above is a engraving, with the caption, "An 1851 sketch, drawn from the water side of the newly-built Custom House." The Boston 200 plaque is on the building's west side.

The Bostonian Society plaque, near the building's north entrance, reads:

"For more than 30 years the tallest building on the Boston skyline, the Custom House is a tangible reminder of the importance of the sea in the city's economy and history. Here duties were collected and maritime business conducted as Boston clipper ships circled the world.
The 1847 Greek Revival structure with monolithic Quincy granite columns was designed by Ammi Burnham Young. In 1915 it was surmounted by Peabody and Stearns' 495 foot Classical Revival-style tower."

The building is a Boston Landmark, and is now home to Marriott's Custom House, one of their Vacation Club properties, with an observation deck, lounge, and museum area. For all you benchmarkers out there, its tower is NGS intersection station MY3136, and MY0556 can be found on its south side.

Agency Responsible for Placement: Boston 200 Year Placed: 1976 County: Suffolk City/Town Name: Boston Relevant Web Site: [Web Link] Agency Responsible for Placement (if not in list above): Not listed

Visit Instructions:
When logging a Massachusetts Historic Marker, we ask that you not only describe your visit, but to upload a picture from it. The picture does not have to be of the marker - one picture of the marker is enough. But a photo of you standing next to the marker or a photograph the subject of the marker - those are examples of possible photographs to upload.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   06/02/2018 elyob visited it 04/16/2018 veritas vita visited it 02/01/2018 davidhale22 visited it 02/01/2018 davidhale22 wrote comment for it 10/03/2016 Sissyta visited it 07/18/2014 W1zz visited it 12/08/2013 Weathervane visited it 11/05/2013 urpickle visited it 09/10/2012 geenef visited it 03/03/2012 3-Bearss visited it 11/21/2011 petendot visited it 10/18/2011 WayBetterFinder visited it 08/02/2011 kareve visited it 03/08/2010 Mogwai Liz visited it 08/10/2009 redsoxavi visited it 07/03/2008 CosmicMiami visited it 07/24/2007 Boot Group visited it 10/12/2006 LSUMonica visited it 04/20/2006 NorStar visited it 03/28/2006 Shorelander visited it

View all visits/logs