Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...
Loading...

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States New York State New York City Manhattan WPA Murals of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

WPA Murals of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Magnificent New Deal Murals evoke a time when New York City harbor was one of the world's greatest and busiest ports.

New York, New York

Added By
Luke Spencer
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
CAPTION
  Luke J Spencer
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  SEANETTA / Atlas Obscura User
  Luke J Spencer
  Luke J Spencer
  e1savage / Atlas Obscura User
  Luke J Spencer
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

Bowling Green is one of downtown Manhattan’s busiest public thoroughfares. Whether making their way to embark for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, or to have their photograph taken by Arturo Di Modica’s Charging Bull, or Kristin Visbal’s new addition, the bronze Fearless Girl, the park throngs with tourists and Financial District workers. The small Green itself, the oldest public park in New York City, is dominated by one the city's most beautiful examples of Beaux Arts architecture, the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.

Currently home to the National Museum of the American Indian, a bankruptcy court, and the National Archives of New York, the opulent building receives little of the vast foot traffic passing through Bowling Green. Which is a pity, for inside is one of the most remarkable examples of the WPA murals born out of the Great Depression.

When Cass Gilbert completed the stunning U.S. Custom House in 1907,  a few years before embarking on the Woolworth Building, New York was still principally a port city, one of the greatest and busiest in the world. Lower Manhattan was dominated by slips, piers, and docks. According to the GSA, the Custom House, “was a bustling place of activity as brokers and custom agents worked together building the wealth of this nation.”

One of the first buildings visible to ships sailing into New York Harbor from the Atlantic, the Custom House, named after Alexander Hamilton, was designed to be monumentally awe-inspiring. The U.S. Customs Service itself dated back to 1789, and is the oldest American Federal Agency, responsible for levying and collecting duties on the endless goods flowing into one of the world’s principal ports.

The grand nature of the Custom House and the business conducted inside was displayed in the vast central rotunda, with help from a series of murals, painted by New York artist Reginald Marsh, depicting daily life in the harbor. The eight vast murals were commissioned by the Treasury Relief Art Project as part of the New Deal, funded by the Works Progress Administration program.

Magnificent in scale, detail and execution, Marsh’s murals show the golden age of New York’s harbor: enormous steamliners dwarfing tugboats, automobiles being lowered onto docks, waterfronts bustling with stevedores, longshoremen, unending lines of immigrants, overshadowed by the dominating and ever-growing Manhattan skyline.

New York’s time as one of the greatest port cities in the world has long since passed, and the U.S. Custom House vacated the beautiful building overlooking Bowling Green for 6 World Trade Centre in 1973, where it was destroyed during the September 11th attacks. But visitors venturing inside the free museum, craning their necks upwards, will see a remarkable painted reminder of a vanished past.

Related Tags

Murals Money Art Architecture History

Community Contributors

Added By

Luke J Spencer

Edited By

SEANETTA, e1savage

  • SEANETTA
  • e1savage

Published

May 2, 2017

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
WPA Murals of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House
1 Bowling Green
New York, New York, 10004
United States
40.703999, -74.01367
Visit Website
Get Directions

Nearby Places

The Oldest Fence in New York

New York, New York

miles away

New York Produce Exchange Property Marker

New York, New York

miles away

Number One, Broadway

New York, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New York

New York

New York

Places 405
Stories 89

Nearby Places

The Oldest Fence in New York

New York, New York

miles away

New York Produce Exchange Property Marker

New York, New York

miles away

Number One, Broadway

New York, New York

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of New York

New York

New York

Places 405
Stories 89

Related Places

  • The Still Automatons of Teatro Albéniz

    Madrid, Spain

    The Still Automatons of Teatro Albéniz

    Automatons that were once removed after one fell from the building.

  • Locomotive 11 was the first car to roll into town once the Florida Southern Rail system was extended to Punta Gorda.

    Punta Gorda, Florida

    End of the Line Mural

    This outdoor mural is one stop on a walking trail that weaves art and history together to tell a tale of local history.

  • South Solon Meeting House

    Solon, Maine

    South Solon Meeting House

    Floor-to-ceiling frescoes by local art students cover the interior of a nearly 200-year-old church.

  • The Congress’s wall and ceiling murals.

    Chetumal, Mexico

    Murales del Congreso (Congress Murals)

    A bright, colorful telling of the history of Mexico's youngest state.

  • Nave of the church.

    Paris, France

    Notre-Dame-de-Lorette

    Claude Monet was baptized in this lavishly ornate Paris church.

  • Miquel Barceló’s ceiling at the UN headquarters in Geneva.

    Geneva, Switzerland

    United Nations Ceiling

    This colorful but controversial ceiling has been likened to a 21st-century Sistine Chapel.

  • “Memoir of the Century.”

    London, England

    Topolski's 'Memoir of the Century'

    Tucked inside a South Bank bar is an epic expressionist chronicle of the 20th century.

  • Sculpture of a Hindu goddess.

    Gwalior, India

    Sasbahu Temples

    A pair of nearly 1,000-year-old temples profusely covered in meticulous stone carvings.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.