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The United States Customhouse is a historic custom house located at Houston in Harris County, Texas. ==Building history== The U.S. Custom House occupies an entire block in the central business district of Houston, Texas. It was built as a post office and courthouse between 1907 and 1911 and later converted to use as the custom house. During this period, urban post offices often shared a building with courts and other federal offices. Houston competed unsuccessfully with Galveston during the latter portion of the 19th century, until the 1900 hurricane, the deadliest natural disaster in United States history, devastated Galveston. The risk to businesses, particularly shipping, caused many companies to move their facilities to the safer, sheltered port of Houston. By 1910, seventeen railroads moved passengers and freight to and from Houston. As Houston grew, the demand for postal facilities and other federal services increased and a new building to house them was needed. The Supervising Architect of the Treasury James Knox Taylor designed the building in the Second Renaissance Revival style. Federal buildings constructed during this era used classical revival styles almost exclusively. Taylor's philosophy was that public buildings should be pleasant to look at, convey dignity appropriate to the federal government, and that they should be designed to permit a utilitarian interior arrangement. Construction began in 1907, and on December 1, 1911, thousands of Houstonians came to tour the building during its grand opening celebration.〔 The building was originally constructed to house the federal district court, a post office, and other federal offices. The increasing number of federal offices in Houston necessitated the 1931 addition. The courthouse operated in the building until 1962, the same year that the post office vacated a portion of the space originally allocated to it. Renovation of those spaces prepared them for other uses. The building has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1974.〔 When this building was constructed, it was the only monumental Second Renaissance Revival building in Houston and one of the larger downtown buildings. It replaced a three-story polychromatic Moorish post office built in 1889, which had been unlike any other building in Houston at the time. Today, especially to the south, this building is surrounded by modern skyscrapers.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「United States Customhouse (Houston)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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