US Custom House

In 1813, New York City acquired the building and, in 1815, sold it to a developer who divided the site, tore down the Government House, and replaced it with seven elegant row houses that were occupied by some of the City's upper middle class. The property was acquired by the federal government, and in 1899, the United States Department of the Treasury sponsored a competition for the design of a United States Custom House in New York that would be erected on that site. Cass Gilbert won the competition. As an architect from St. Paul, Minnesota, he saw the move to New York as a great opportunity. Later, he achieved fame by designing the Woolworth Building, which was the world's tallest building when it opened in 1913.

The U.S. Custom House stood vacant for almost the entire decade of the seventies. In 1979 Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan saved the building from demolition and sponsored a bill which appropriated $29.4 million for its restoration. The U.S. General Services Administration held a competition for the building's restoration and re-use. After undergoing major renovation, restoration and modernization of its mechanics, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York moved into the building on September 14, 1987 from the United States Courthouse at Foley Square. On October 30, 1994, the George Gustav Heye Center, National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution moved into the first and second floors.