Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

New York, NY

This historic landmark was designed in 1900 by Cass Gilbert, and it remains an extraordinary example of Beaux Arts architecture. After years of disuse, however, it required a major renovation and restoration, inside and out. EE&K supervised the cleaning of the exterior Tennessee marble and granite; the repair of the interior murals, painted by noted artist Reginald Marsh, and other decorative finishes by Elmer Garnsey; and the conservation of Tiffany glasswork.

To return the building to active use, EE&K designed the George Gustav Heye Center for the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian on the basement level and first and second floors of the building. On the upper floors, a new home was created for the Federal Bankruptcy Courts by organizing a jumble of unfinished spaces. With the further renovation of the basement level into the Diker Pavilion for Native Arts a Cultures, addition of a 350-seat multi-media auditorium, and the painstaking restoration of the grand staircases and rotunda, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House once more serves the public, more than a century after it was first constructed.

Awards:
US General Services Administration
Award for Excellence, 1997

Building Modernization
Modernization Award, 1997

Municipal Art Society of New York
Preservation Award, 1994