A fort on the southern tip of Manhattan at the confluence of the Hudson and East rivers. It was the administrative headquarters for the Dutch and then English/British rule of the colony of New Netherland and subsequently the Province of New York from 1625 or 1626, until being torn down in 1790 after the American Revolution. It was the nucleus of the settlement in the area that became New Amsterdam and eventually New York City. 

The view of Fort Amsterdam on the Manhattan is copied from an ancient Engineering executed in Holland.&amp;nbsp;The fort was erected in 1623 but finished upon the above model by Governor Van Twillor in 1635. 

Willem Kieft was a&amp;nbsp;Dutch&amp;nbsp;merchant and the&amp;nbsp;Director of New Netherland&amp;nbsp;(of which&amp;nbsp;New Amsterdam&amp;nbsp;was the capital) from 1638 to 1647.  

Caption reads: "Broadway; Dutch fort; approximate line of State St.; Stuyvesant's house and garden. Model (built, 1933, by Chas. S. Capehart), based on Castello Plan of New Amsterdam, 1660."  

The site is now occupied by the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House

Fort Amsterdam

 French performed the commissions with associate Adolph A. Weinman, sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers. Each sculptural group costing $13,500. From east to west, the statues depicted larger-than-life-size personifications of the continents Asia, America, Europe, and Africa. The primary figures were female, but there were also auxiliary human figures flanking each primary figure. In addition, Asia's figure was paired with a tiger, and Africa's figure was paired with a lion.

Four Continents

 Anne Lewison, architect and board member of cultureNOW, reads a selection from the book, Manhattan Outdoor Sculpture, by Margot Gayle and Michele Cohen, about The Four Continents, by Daniel Chester French, located at the US Customs House. 

 This is a series of paintings depicting Greece &amp; Rome, and Venice &amp; Spain. 

Located in the collectors office of the U.S. Custom House.

Ports

These works were executed by 8 different sculptors. Johannes Gelert: Denmark; Albert Jaegers: Belgium; Augustus Henry Lukeman: Genoa; Frederick Wellington Ruckstuhl: Phoenicia; Francois Elwell: Greece; Francis Michel Louis Tonett: Venice; Louis Saint-Gaudens: Holland and Portugal; Charles Garfly: France and England; and Karl Theodore Francis Bitter. Each sculpture depicts a different symbol of Government.Above the main cornice are a group of standing sculptures of personifications of seafaring nations. There are twelve such statues, which depict commercial hubs through both ancient and modern history. Each sculpture is 11 feet (3.4 m) tall and weighs 20 short tons (18 long tons; 18 metric tons). These sculptures were arranged in chronological sequence from east to west, so that the easternmost sculptures were of ancient Greece and Rome, while the westernmost sculptures were of the more recent French and British empires.One of these sculptures, Germania by Albert Jaegers, was modified in 1918 to display Belgian insignia rather than German insignia.

Seafaring Nations

 Anne Lewison, architect and board member of cultureNOW, reads a selection from the book, Manhattan Outdoor Sculpture, by Margot Gayle and Michele Cohen, about Seafaring Nations, a group of sculptures at the US Custom House. 

 In 1937, celebrated New York painted Reginald Marsh painted murals for the rotunda that depicted early explorers of the Americas and traced the course of a ship entering New York's harbor. 

Custom House Murals

 Symbols of Government at the top of the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House  

Symbols of Government

After Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, the site of Fort George was viewed as the "social center of New York", prime real estate for grand residences. On July 13, 1789, the New York State legislature passed a resolution that the site of Fort George should be used to build a "proper House ... for the residence and accommodation of the President of the United States."A Georgian-style mansion at the foot of Broadway, south of Bowling Green, on the site previously occupied by Fort George in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1790 by the state of New York, it was intended to be the executive mansion for President George Washington, but he never occupied it. Before it was completed, the federal government moved temporarily to Philadelphia; then permanently to Washington, D.C. It then became the state governor`s residence and was used by George Clinton and John Jay. Later it was leased to John Avery and was known as the Elysian Boarding House. After the passage of the Customs Administration Act in 1799, it was converted into the Custom House in New York. Parts of the building were later leased to the American Academy of Arts, who then offered space to the New-York Historical Society in 1809. In 1813, the property was sold to the city. In 1815, the land was sold to the public and the building demolished.

Government House

The Alexander Hamilton Customs House, now the National Museum of the American Indian, is a Beaux-Arts building designed by Cass Gilbert and erected 1899-1907. When the Federal Government established income tax in 1913, the Customs House became the country's largest collector. The facade's grand sculptures by Daniel Chester French, who also sculpted the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, represent the four continents, their whiteness providing a rich counterpoint to the structure's gray granite. The interior, which is also an NYC Landmark, includes a giant oval rotunda, embellished with Reginald Marsh's WPA (Works Progress Administration) commissioned murals project in 1938.

 The United States Customs Service moved out of the building in 1974, and it sat abandoned for over a decade until renovations in the late 1980s.  

 In 1990, the Custom House was renamed to commemorate Alexander Hamilton, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and its first Secretary of the Treasury. 

The building contains the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, as well as the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.The National Museum of the American Indian is the first national museum dedicated to the preservation, study, and exhibition of the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of Native Americans. Established by an act of Congress in 1989, the museum works in collaboration with the Native peoples of the Western Hemisphere to protect and foster their cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs, encouraging contemporary artistic expression, and providing a platform of engagement for the Indian voice.

 It is also the home to the National Archives in New York City. 

Unlike most custom houses, which face the waterfront, the Alexander Hamilton Custom House faces inland toward Bowling Green.  

 Bounded by&amp;nbsp;Bowling Green&amp;nbsp;to the north,&amp;nbsp;Whitehall Street&amp;nbsp;to the east, Bridge Street to the south, and State Street to the east.   the Museum

&lt;p&gt;The Whitehall Street and State Street&amp;nbsp;elevations&amp;nbsp;are 300 feet (90&amp;nbsp;m) wide; the main elevation on Bowling Green is 200 feet (60&amp;nbsp;m) wide; and the rear elevation on Bridge Street is 290 feet (88&amp;nbsp;m) wide.&lt;/p&gt; David Sundberg/Esto

Seven stories high with an interior steel frame   National Museum of the American Indian

The building sits on the site of Fort Amsterdam, constructed by the&amp;nbsp;Dutch West India Company&amp;nbsp;to defend their operations in the&amp;nbsp;Hudson Valley.&amp;nbsp;   the Museum

The Fort Amsterdam became the nucleus of the&amp;nbsp;New Amsterdam&amp;nbsp;settlement, and in turn, of&amp;nbsp;New York City. Bowling Green, immediately to the north, became the oldest park in New York City.   the Museum

Alexander Hamilton Custom House (National Museum of the American Indian)

 Julie Engh presents the Lower Hudson River segment of the tour, beginning at Chelsea Piers and ending at Alexander Hamilton Custom House. 

Alexander Hamilton Custom House (National Museum of the American Indian)

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