Thursday, June 18, 2009

Custom House Tower


The Custom House Tower, which long dominated the Boston skyline to the waterfront, is now a hotel. The 16 story tower was Boston's first skyscraper and was built in 1915 by Peabody and Stearns. The original structure, built in 1847 and designed by Ammi Burnham Young is surrounded by 36 monolithic Quincy granite columns, each weighing 42 tons. The entire structure sits on filled land and is supported by 3,000 wooden piles driven through fill to bedrock. The Customs House was originally at the edge of the harbor to facilitate inspection and registration of cargo, but because of additional filled land now sits one quarter mile from the harbor.

Here is a partial view of the Custom House Tower.

15 comments:

magiceye said...

impressive!

Malyss said...

I'm always impressed when I read the number of meters, the weight of the stones, the numbers of wooden piles, etc... Especially when we know that in older times, people had not the technical means that we have now. Could a today's architect build something without a computer? I'm not sure..
And yet, the result is wonderful, the building is now more than one century old, it's both solid and beautyful!

VP said...

Impressive building of titanic proportions. In a minor scale our Custom House suffered the same fate, now inland for two hundred meters and turned in Chamber of Commerce.

joo said...

Wow, awesome buillding!

Tash said...

I did wonder what the Customs House was doing so far inland. The tower is really gorgeous and your composition is super - with the framing, the sign and the foreground. I don't picture the columns and the tower as being part of the same building. It would be so nice to stay there - we stayed at Hawthorne Hotel in Salem in 1992. I'm definitely due for another visit!

AB said...

Nice perspective. In combination with the arches the tapering of the building looks great.

slim said...

This is another picture perfect postcard view of Boston, with a touch of Quincy in it. I like it!

brattcat said...

Great composition. Excellent commentary.

Cezar and Léia said...

Another fabulous picture!
You always have sensibility to put light and great details in your shots!
Congratulations!
God bless you
Léia

( purrs and love from little Luna(from Brazil) )

Buenos Aires Photoblog said...

I'm not really a fan of high-rise architecture but this one seems nice. It is the perspective and composition of the shot that makes the picture.

Unknown said...

Beautiful composition. I love the way this scyscraper seems to tower over us.

Leilani Tresise said...

I saw this when i visited last june . I had to stop and take a pic of it !! I adore Boston !

cieldequimper said...

Goodness, what an imposing building for customs. I love your angle.

2sweetnsaxy said...

Nice shot. I like the way the sign looks in front of the building.

Kcalpesh said...

Take a bow from me! I loved this composition.... again.. very very inspiring for me...