Customs House Nashville

The Nashville Customs House features a dense, fortress-like exterior of rough-hewn Tennessee limestone and gothic arched windows. Built in the eighteen seventies, it functioned as the primary center for federal administration and postal services in the city. Architect Ammi Burnham Young designed the building to withstand fire, utilizing heavy iron beams and masonry vaults. During the yellow fever epidemic of eighteen seventy-eight, officials kept the post office open here, moving mail bags through vinegar-soaked tunnels to disinfect them before delivery to residents.