The 1898 portion of the Museum was originally designed for use as a Federal post office and custom house to handle the large volume of foreign mail created by the city's international tobacco business.

The structure was designed by the Supervising Architect of the Treasury, William Martin Aiken, in the eclectic style popular to Victorian America.

Aiken incorporated many architectural styles including Stick, Queen Anne, Italianate, Romanesque, Flemish and Gothic.

Its highly pitched roof with large eagles on the four corners, steep gabled windows and elaborate terra cotta ornamentation combine to give importance to a relatively small building.

[2] Media related to Customs House Museum and Cultural Center at Wikimedia Commons