Customhouse & Post Office, Christiansted Warf Square vicinity, Christiansted, St. Croix, VI

Significance: Christiansted, as the chief port of St. Croix, was an important trading center in the 18th and 19th centuries; it exported large quantities of sugar, rum, and molasses. This building, which was the Christiansted Customs House from the 1760's to 1878, was therefore of considerable importance to the economic life of the community, and is now preserved as part of the Christiansted National Historic Site.

A brick and rubble masonry structure constructed in 1828-1829 on the site of and probably incorporating walls of an earlier building. In 1840 a committee of Building Inspector Hingelberg, Peter De Nully and Mr. Naeser propsed alterations which were carried out by the contractor Albert Lovmand in 1840-1842 and the building received its present design and general character. New roofs were laid in 1847, and in 1905 the existing roof was constructed above the earlier one, which remained in place, and the parapet walls were raised to their present height. The building served as a custom house from 1828 to 1878, as a post office from 1878-1926 and from 1926 to the present as a public library among other uses.
Survey number: HABS VI-4
Building/structure dates: 1751-1752 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1805 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1828-1830 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: 1840-1842 Subsequent Work