The Custom House.  The townhouses comprising Steamship Row were razed to make way for the Custom House, which was built in 1907 to house the duty collection operations for the Port of New York.  [ Continued ]

REFERENCE:  Steamship Row

"The magnificent statuary on the Custom House is the work of the noted sculptor Daniel Chester French. They represent the great trading nations of the world. During the late war the statue of Germania was changed to represent Belgium, so that no honor would be done to a state guilty of sinking helpless merchant ships and drowning women and children. The allegorical figures represent the four great continents, Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Inside the building are ten decorative paintings of great excellence, depicting the old maritime parts of the Seventeenth Century, including New Amsterdam ( New York ) and Fort Orange ( Albany )."


[ Quotation from Henry Collins Brown, Valentine's City of New York Guide Book, p. 33 ( New York: The Chauncey Holt Co., 1920 ) ]

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