The U.S. Custom House in Baltimore is located two blocks north of the Inner Harbor, on a gently sloping site bounded by Gay, Lombard, and Water Streets. The six-story building, 92 feet high from base to roof balustrade, displays an axial symmetry and imposing presence characteristic of the Beaux-Arts style. The building's architects, Joseph C. Hornblower (1848–1908) and John Rush Marshall (1851–1927), began their careers in the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department. They used Hornblower's training at the École des Beaux-Arts and the experiences of their European tours to apply French academic planning and organizational principles to American civic architecture. Photo by Carol Highsmith, 2018.