National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Finding Aid
United States. Department of the Treasury
Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents 1878-1929
Catalog Number FEHA 1769
National Park Service
Manhattan Sites
Federal Hall National Memorial
Jenny Beard
December 2012
This finding aid may be accessed electronically from the
National Park Service Manhattan Historic Sites Archive
http://www.mhsarchive.org
Processing was funded by a generous donation from the Leon Levy Foundation
to the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy.
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS ................................................................................................................... 4
PROVENANCE NOTE ...................................................................................................................................... 5
HISTORICAL NOTE ......................................................................................................................................... 6
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE ......................................................................................................................... 7
ARRANGEMENT NOTE................................................................................................................................... 7
CONTENTS LIST............................................................................................................................................. 8
RELATED MATERIALS NOTE......................................................................................................................... 11
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................... 11
ADDED ENTRIES ........................................................................................................................................ 12
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 2
SUMMARY
Creator: United States. Dept. of the Treasury
Title: United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents
Dates: 1878-1929, undated
Extent: 0.41 linear feet
National Park Service Accession Number: FEHA-000303
National Park Service Catalog Number: FEHA 1769
Historical Statement:
Federal Hall National Memorial commemorates the historic events leading up to and including
the founding of the United States government. The building constructed in 1842 on the site of
the original 1699 Federal Hall consecutively housed New York’s Customs House, Sub-Treasury,
and Federal Reserve. The New York Customs House building was transitioned into a SubTreasury in 1862 when the Customs Office, having outgrown the space, vacated the building.
Renovations to the building began in 1863, bringing the building up to the security standards
befitting a Sub-Treasury. Additional improvements and renovations were made to the building
throughout its use.
Scope and Content Statement:
Documents in this collection illuminate the physical history of what is now known as Federal Hall
during the time it was occupied by the Sub-Treasury. Specifications, responses, and
photographs chronicle the planning of rehabilitation and preservation efforts by the U. S.
Treasury Department in the transition of the building from a Customs House to a Sub-Treasury
during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Processing Information:
This collection was processed as part of the Manhattan Sites Archives Project in 2012 by
Assistant Archivist Jenny Beard, with the assistance of Project Archivist, Tobi Adler and Lead
Archivist, Mimi Bowling.
Funding Source:
Processing of this collection was made possible by a generous donation from the Leon Levy
Foundation to the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Contact Information:
Chief of Cultural Resources, National Park Service, Manhattan Sites
Federal Hall National Memorial
26 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005
(212) 825-6883
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Page 3
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 4
COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies
or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The various state privacy acts govern the use of
materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations.
Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a
reproduction if the document does not infringe the privacy rights of an individual, group, or corporation.
These specified conditions of authorized use include:
• non-commercial and non-profit study, scholarship, or research, or teaching
• criticism, commentary, or news reporting
• as a NPS preservation or security copy
• as a research copy for deposit in another institution
If a user later uses a copy or reproduction for purposes in excess of "fair use," the user may be
personally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement. This institution's permission to obtain a
photographic, xerographic, digital, or other copy of a document doesn't indicate permission to publish,
exhibit, perform, reproduce, sell, distribute, or prepare derivative works from this document without
first obtaining permission from the copyright holder and from any private individual, group, or
corporation shown or otherwise recorded.
Permission to publish, exhibit, perform, reproduce, prepare derivative works from, sell, or otherwise
distribute the item must be obtained by the user separately in writing from the holder of the original
copyright (or if the creator is dead from his/her heirs) as well as from any individual(s), groups, or
corporations whose name, image, recorded words, or private information (e.g., employment
information) may be reproduced in the source material. The holder of the original copyright isn't
necessarily the National Park Service. The National Park Service is not legally liable for copyright, privacy,
or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for
"fair use."
This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged
in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy or publicity law.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 5
PROVENANCE NOTE
This collection comprises items assembled from materials located in the Manhattan Sites collections,
now housed at Fort Wadsworth, Staten Island, New York. Accession FEHA-000303 was recorded in
March of 2001 as a transfer from the NPS Denver Service Center. Current NPS records show that this
accession had an item count of fifty and is partially cataloged which suggests that there may be
additional related records elsewhere.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 6
HISTORICAL NOTE
The current Federal Hall National Memorial, located at 26 Wall Street in New York City, was originally
designed as a Customs House. The Customs House was constructed from 1834-1842, in part by a series
of eminent architects and builders of the period, most notably the firm Town and Davis (Ithiel Town and
Alexander J. Davis), Samuel Thompson, and John Frazee. Town and Davis are credited with the exterior
design of the building, Samuel Thompson, the design of the interior, and John Frazee, with the interior
details. The Customs House opened in 1842, managing New York’s growing import and export customs
revenue until 1862 when the Customs Service was moved to the New York Merchant’s Exchange at 55
Wall Street. The New York Sub-Treasury subsequently moved into the building at 26 Wall Street.
Facing the failure of the Second Bank of the United States, Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the Treasury
(1834–1841) backed the act for an Independent Treasury System passed by Congress in 1840, then
overturned in the next administration. During the term of President James K. Polk the decision in favor
of a state bank system was finally reversed on July 29, 1846 when both houses of Congress passed a bill
re-establishing the Independent Treasury System. The Independent Treasury System gave the Treasury
Department, not commercial banks, responsibility for the management of the government's monetary
resources. The role of the Sub-Treasury in the Independent Treasury System was to act as the
government’s monetary depository where coins in gold or silver were received and paid out by clerks.
In the transition from Customs House to Sub-Treasury, the building at 26 Wall Street underwent
construction necessary to a financial institution with considerable deposits in its stores. On July 31,
1869, clerks were recorded to have counted $102,727,648.291 in the Sub-Treasury.
The General Appropriation Act of December 1920 ended the Sub-Treasury system, reallocating the
functions of the Sub-Treasury to the Federal Reserve. The Sub-Treasury dissolved and the Federal
Reserve occupied the building until 1924 when the Federal Reserve moved to a new location. The
building at 26 Wall Street then became a federal office building, housing the Passport Division of the
State Department, the Interstate Commerce Commission, the United States Coast Guard, Public Works
Administration, and the Public Health Service. The building served as Federal offices through 1939,
when it was proclaimed a National Historic Shrine.
Due to its centrality to seminal events in the establishment of the United States of America, Federal Hall
was designated a National Historic Site by the Secretary of the Interior under the authority of the
Historic Sites Act of 1935, on April 30, 1939. It was re-designated a National Memorial by an Act of
Congress on April 30, 1955.
1
Federal Hall National Memorial. Cataloged Archival Items. Multiple Catalog Numbers. National Park
Service, Manhattan Sites.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 7
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection comprises specifications, bid responses and photographs detailing the renovation of the
Sub-Treasury from 1878-1929. Specifications are in several states: handwritten, Treasury Department
forms, typescript, and copy processes. Responses are handwritten, typescript and copy process. Copy
processes include carbon copies, hectographs, and blueprints.
Renovations were supervised by the Treasury Department Office of the Supervising Architect, the
Superintendent’s Office, a series of Supervising Architects, and by the by Office of Supervising Chief
Engineer, U.S. Public Buildings. Supervisors mentioned in the documents include Tho. R. Jackson,
Superintendent of Repairs; William J. Fryer, Jr., Superintendent of Repairs; Albert B McCulloch,
Supervising Chief Engineer; Jas. G. Hill, Supervising Architect; and James Knox Taylor, Supervising
Architect.
Renovations cover construction related to the building’s increased need for security such as vault doors,
burglar proof vaults, and apparatus for the gold and silver vaults. The records also indicate facility
maintenance and improvements including plumbing repairs, cleaning and painting the interior and
exterior, and repairs to the roof.
ARRANGEMENT NOTE
The Department of the Treasury Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents collection is arranged
chronologically. Folder numbers are sequential based on the dates of the documents. This collection is
described at the item level.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 8
CONTENTS LIST
Box Folder
1
1
Title
Response from Geo. L. Damon for Specifications for proposed
burglar-proof vault for the U. S. Assistant Treasurer’s office
Dates
1870-1890
1
2
Response from Geo. L. Damon Am. Steam Safe Co. [American
Steam Safe Company] for specifications for proposed new vault
doors for vaults of Assistant Treasurer New York, with letter to
Hon. W. A. Peffer
1875 August 23
1
3
Proposal for burglar-proof vault for the U. S. Sub-Treasury with
floor plan, Jas. G. Hill, Supervising Architect, hectograph copy
process
1878 April 11
1
4
Specification for fortifying the Sub-Treasury material and work,
sub-basement, first story, second story, third story, attic story,
roof, miscellaneous, prepared by Tho. R. Jackson, Supt. Of Repairs.
Report by Genl. L. B. Tower, signed off by Col. Of Engineers Brig.
Maj. Genl., hectograph copy process
1878 October 10
1
5
Form 133. Proposals for wrought steel window frames and sash,
glazing, &c. at the Sub-Treasury, with typewritten specification for
bidders on the project by the Supervising Architect James Knox
Taylor
undated, [18971912]
1
6
Proposal and Specification for the repairs to the hot water heating
apparatus in the U.S. Sub-Treasury, Superintendent of Repairs,
William J. Fryer, Jr., Acting Supervising Architect, Henri Leau,
mimeograph
1889 September
3
1
7
Form 133. Specification and proposal for the new money vaults
and toilet room and work incidental thereto in the U. S. SubTreasury, Supervising Architect, James Knox Taylor
1900 August 23
1
8
Form 133. Specification for the reconstruction of compartments in
the old silver vault of U.S. Sub-Treasury with typewritten
specification for bidders on the project, carbon copy
1904 March 17
1
9
Form 133. Restoration and general repairing of roof, skylights, etc.
at U.S. Sub-Treasury with typewritten specification for bidders on
the project, carbon copy
1905 April 1
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
1
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 9
10
Specifications covering the proposed installation of the Pullman
Automatic Ventilators in the U. S. Sub-Treasury, stamped CHF.
ENG. & SUPT. ETC., typewritten
1909 January 25
11
Form [8754]. Specification for certain alterations, incident to the
installation of a money laundry, U.S. Sub-Treasury with
typewritten specification for bidders on the project, carbon copy
1910 June
1
12
Form 8754. Specifications for certain repairs and alterations in coin 1912
division and minor coin division, first floor, U.S. Sub-Treasury with
typewritten specification for bidders on the project, carbon copy
1
13
Work. For the installation of new main switch board, basement
floor, new conduit, wiring, electric fixtures, panel board, etc., in
coin and minor coin division, Pine Street Hall, first floor, cancelled
check and record division, second floor, U.S. Sub-Treasury, Office
of Supervising Chief Engineer, typewritten, form, carbon copy
1913 September
16
1
14
Specification for furnishing and installing special lighting fixtures
for the U. S. Sub-Treasury, Supervising Architect, O. Wenderoth,
printed by Government printing office
1915
1
15
Work. For the construction of two storm vestibules on the Wall
and Pine street sides U.S. Sub-Treasury, Office of Supervising Chief
Engineer, typewritten, form, carbon copy
1917 June 29
1
16
Three sliver gelatin photos of the Sub-Treasury by Edwards &
Floods Contractors, photographer Joseph Smith; Elevator, iron
stairway and window opening on Nassau Street. Facing west;
Basement wall at west end of tunnel (location of proposed
elevator) facing west; East foundation wall at end of tunnel. Facing
east
1924 November
6
1
17
Work. Cleaning and painting the interior and exterior United States 1925 April 22
Sub-Treasury, Office of Supervising Chief Engineer, typewritten,
form, carbon copy
1
18
Work. Specification for counters, platforms, railing, and partition
work on the first floor in the rotunda of the U. S. Sub-Treasury,
Office of Supervising Chief Engineer, typewritten, form, carbon
copy
1925 July 9
1
19
Work erecting wood and glass partitions and cutting doorway and
removing counter in the northeast corner room, and two
platforms and railings in either end of rotunda on first floor, U. S.
1925 August 14
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 10
Sub-Treasury, Office of Supervising Chief Engineer, typewritten,
form, carbon copy
1
20
Work. Specification for new toilet room on third floor, United
States Sub-Treasury, Office of Supervising Chief Engineer,
typewritten, form, carbon copy
1925 September
3
1
21
Standard Government form No. 20. Invitation for bids for cleaning
all masonry walls, columns, etc. in rotunda at the U.S. SubTreasury, Office of Supervising Chief Engineer, Albert B.
McCulloch, typewritten, form, carbon copy
1928 November
19
1
22
Specifications for Alterations to the U.S. Sub-Treasury and Assay
Office Building, Yasuo Matsui, Architect F. H. Dewey and Company,
with the general conditions of the contract for the construction of
buildings standard form of the American Institute of Architects,
typewritten, blueprint
1929 December
18
1
23
Special conditions and specification for plumbing repairs at the
U.S. Sub-Treasury, Office of Supervising Chief Engineer, Albert B.
McCulloch, mimeograph
1934 May 17
1
24
Specification for ventilating apparatus for the gold and silver vaults
at the U.S. Sub-Treasury typewritten and carbon copy
undated
1
25
Specification for labor and materials required for the furnishings,
erection, and completion of certain work required at the U.S. SubTreasury, typewritten
undated
1
26
Form 8754. Specifications for the installation of one new 3-1/2” x
8” electrically driven power pump and one new vertical 3” x 6”
electrically [driven] house tank pump, U.S. Sub-Treasury, form,
carbon copy
undated
1
27
Specification for cutting two (2) window openings in the front
(south) wall of the U. S. Sub-Treasury, carbon copy
undated
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
Page 11
RELATED MATERIALS NOTE
Federal Hall National Memorial. Cataloged Archival Items. Multiple Catalog Numbers. National Park
Service, Manhattan Sites.
Federal Hall National Memorial. Federal Hall Memorial Associates Administrative Records. Catalog
Number FEHA 1924. National Park Service, Manhattan Sites.
Federal Hall National Memorial. National Park Service Administrative Records. Catalog Number FEHA
1925. National Park Service, Manhattan Sites.
Federal Hall National Memorial. American Legion Wall Street Post 1217 Records. Catalog Number FEHA
1926. National Park Service, Manhattan Sites.
Federal Hall National Memorial. Messmore Kendall Collection. Multiple Catalog Numbers.
National Park Service, Manhattan Sites.
SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY
National Park Service. Historic Structures Report, (New York, N.Y.: NPS, 1988). Federal Hall National
Memorial National Park Service Administrative Records. Catalog Number FEHA 1925. Box 3,
Folders 10-12.
Platt, John David Ronalds. The United States Independent Treasury System; [its significance and
application to] Federal Hall, N.H.S., New York. [With a note on the customs house period;
background and evaluation study]. [Washington]: Division of History, U.S. Office of Archeology
and Historic Preservation, 1968.
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
Finding Aid
United States Dept. of the Treasury. Sub-Treasury Renovation Documents – Catalog # 1769
ADDED ENTRIES/ACCESS POINTS
Personal Names:
Damon, George Leonard
Fryer, William J. (William John), 1842-1907
Hill, James G., 1841-1913
Jackson, Tho. R.
Leau, Henri
Matsui, Yasuo
McCulloch, Albert B.
Peffer, William Alfred, 1831-1912
Smith, Joseph
Tower, L. B.
Wenderoth, O.
Corporate Names:
American Steam Safe Company
F. H. Dewey and Company
Subjects:
Buildings--Specifications
Customhouses--New York (State)--New York--History
Federal Hall National Memorial (New York, N.Y.)
Federal government--United States--History
Historic buildings--New York (State)--New York
Historic sites--New York (State)--New York
New York (N.Y.)--History
New York (N.Y.)--History--1775-1865
New York (N.Y.)--History--1865-1898
New York (N.Y.)--History--1898-1951
New York (N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.
Sub-Treasury Building (New York, N.Y.)
National Park Service: Manhattan Sites
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