Savannah's first U.S. Custom House opened in 1789 on Commerce Row on East Bay Street in Savannah, Georgia. The second, opened in 1819 on East Bryan Street, burned in 1837. In 1845, the federal government purchased a site at East Bay and Bull Streets for a third U.S. Custom House. New York architect John S. Norris (1804-1876) served as designer and supervisor of construction. The building was the first of eighteen commissions Norris designed while living in Savannah from 1846 to 1861. The cornerstone was laid on July 20, 1848. The building was completed in 1852 and had the U.S. Post Office in the basement, the Customs Service on the first floor, and the federal courts on the second floor.
Exterior.