Down at 312 Fore Street in downtown Portland, you face the United States Custom House. Built from 1867–1872 to house offices of the United States Customs Service, this building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. By 1866 Portland’s customs business was collecting $900,000 annually in duties, making the port one of the most significant in the country — and it was that booming trade that required a new, permanent custom house.
The design you see combines elements of Second Empire and Renaissance Revival, typical of notable work completed under Alfred B. Mullett, Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1865 to 1874. The urgency for this structure was sharpened by the Great Fire of July 4, 1866, which destroyed the Exchange Building — the previous home of the customs office, post office, and courts — along with 1,800 other buildings in the center of the city. Standing here near Portland’s waterfront, you can sense how this grand federal building answered a practical need and symbolized recovery.
This grand federal building, raised after the fire of 1866, still fronts the waterfront and the center of the city it was built to serve.