Tourist Series, No. 2

This is one of the stairways in the U.S. Custom House, located next to Battery Park, in Manhattan. The Custom House is one of the city's most splendid Beaux Arts buildings. It was designed by the prominent architect Cass Gilbert and constructed between 1902 and 1907. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it was one of the earliest designations of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for both exterior and public interior spaces. Lavish sculptures, paintings, and decorations by well-known artists of the time, such as Daniel Chester French, embellish the facade, the two-story entry portico, the main hall parallel to the facade, and the Rotunda. This stairway is not the most interesting atristic thing in the building, by a long shot, but it made the most interesting photo, I thought.