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.ÿþno blueprint for the new nation 17without paying an extravagant price for the ground as well as for theimprovements which most probably would be of no use for publicpurposes. 6In July 1818, Strickland was poised to enter into a contract to su-pervise the erection of the new custom house in Philadelphia.Crawford instructed Steele to require Strickland to provide a bond with security for the faithful performance of contract. 7 If the ar-chitect refused, Steele was at liberty to seek another contractor.Strickland s fee for superintending the construction was judged byCrawford to be inadvisable, leading him to inquire about his feesfor preparing the design.As Crawford noted, very extravagant priceshave been asked for drawings plans of Custom Houses in other dis-tricts. 8Despite these misgivings, the contract for construction was signedby August 1818 and the work proceeded.As a building designed tostand on its own, the custom house exhibited a Greek Revival ro-bustness that contrasted with the more restrained lines of Latrobe scustom houses.The design of the building also appeared to defyCongressional wishes for a functional, rather than an ornamental,custom house.In 1844, this custom house was superseded by Strick-land s redesigned Second Bank of the United States for custom func-tions.Strickland s work as both designer and superintendent of thePhiladelphia custom house impressed Secretary Crawford suffici-ently that he asked him to prepare a plan for a new customs house atNew Orleans.Although a replacement for Latrobe s failed 1807 1809customhouse building was eventually designed by New Orleans ar-chitect Benjamin Buisson, Crawford was drawn to Strickland s ideasbecause, as he wrote to Steele, he was desirous of availing myself ofthe knowledge which Mr.Strickland and yourself have acquired insuch matters. 9The Second Generationof Custom HousesBy the early 1830s, the federal government could claim a modicum ofexperience in the construction of public buildings to house its func-tions.The role of architects was better understood as well.Now theexecutive branch was ready to invest in major federal buildings thatattested to a confidence in the stability of the young nation and its
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