National Register of Historic Places

U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House

San Ysidro, San Diego County, California
Listed
February 10, 1983
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
83001228

About this property

The United States Custom House (also known as the Old Customs House) in San Ysidro, San Diego, California, is a 1933 Spanish Revival–style building located 50 feet (15 m) north of the Mexico–United States border at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the full historic name U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House and common name U.S. Custom House. The Custom House was part of a large federal building program begun in 1926 during the Herbert Hoover administration in which 1,300 new federal buildings were constructed. The building was designed by the Supervising Architect's office of the Treasury Department; construction was performed by Robert E. McKee of El Paso, Texas, who was paid $93,800. Groundbreaking was in early summer 1932. In May 1933, the building was complete; it was quietly put into use without a formal dedication ceremony. As traffic increased at the crossing over the decades, an additional building was added north of the 1933 facility. That new building was then replaced by much larger inspection and customs facilities to its west, completed in 1974 and still in use. After a period during which the ground floor of the Custom House was left empty, the ground floor once again houses offices of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The building is considered important for two reasons, one political and one architectural. Politically, the building has played an important symbolic role in relations between Mexico and the United States at one of the busiest land border crossings in the world. Architecturally, it is considered a locally prominent example of the Spanish Colonial Revival architectural style as applied to a public building.

Location

San Ysidro, San Diego County, California
32.54291, -117.02834

Categories

POLITICS/GOVERNMENTARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

Initial Point of Boundary Between U.S. and Mexico
Listed
5.5 mi
Station and General Office, California Southern Railroad
Industrial
9.4 mi
Brick Row
Industrial
10.2 mi
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church
Industrial
10.2 mi
Granger Hall
Industrial
10.4 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of La Mesa – Detail
1847Mexican-American War
4.6 mi

Questions about this property

When was U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House listed on the National Register?

U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 10, 1983.

What type of historic resource is U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House?

U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House?

The period of significance for U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House is recorded as the industrial era.

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