The Old Customshouse is an historic, American

custom house A custom house or customs house was traditionally a building housing the offices for a jurisdictional government whose officials oversaw the functions associated with importing and exporting goods into and out of a country, such as collecting c ...

building that is located in

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

Erie County, Pennsylvania Erie County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the northernmost county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,876. Its county seat is Erie. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1803. ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1972.

History and architectural features

Built between 1838 and 1839, this historic structure is a two-story, rectangular, brick and Vermont

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

building. The front facade features a pedimented

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

with six two-story,

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

columns. Designed in the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but ...

style, this building housed Erie's post office until 1867, served as the Customs House for the port of Erie from 1849 to 1888, and later housed a

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

post and the Erie County Historical Society. ''Note:'' This includes It is now part of a five-building complex of the

Erie Art Museum Erie Art Museum is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Museum holds a collection of more than 8,000 objects, with strengths in American art pottery, American ceramics, Tibetan art, Tibetan paintings, Arts and entertainment in India#Sculpture, Indian ...

. It was added to the

in 1972.

References

External links

Old Customs House, 415 State Street, Erie, Erie County, PA
5 photos, 14 measured drawings, and 4 data pages, at

Historic American Buildings Survey Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...

{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Pennsylvania Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Greek Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Government buildings completed in 1839 Buildings and structures in Erie, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Erie County, Pennsylvania