Location Information
(for the Old U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Customhouse)
Name:(Old) U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Customhouse [Biloxi City Hall]
Address:140 Lameuse Street
City/County:Biloxi, Harrison County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1905-08
Architectural Styles(s):Neoclassical, Beaux Arts
Registration Information
NR Listing Date:30 Jan 1978
NR District Name:Biloxi Downtown Boundary Increase (2015)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:18
    MPS:Historic Resources of Biloxi
View National Register Nomination Form
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:01-15-1986
Recorded:05-01-1986
Book/Vol. No.:V. 170, p. 297
Local Designation Information
Local District Name:Downtown Biloxi Historic District
click here for additional information on this district.
Local Landmark Listing Date:07 Sep 2010
click here to view ordinance
Context/Comments
An important and well-documented example of the Neoclassical Revival style that was widely adopted for monumental structures during the first decade of the twentieth century. Completed on June 30, 1908 as a federal building housing the U.S. Post Office, Court House, and Custom House, the structure is still the grandest edifice in downtown Biloxi. Significantly, it continues to serve a vital public function and to fulfill the 1905 prediction of the Biloxi Daily Herald that "the federal building will be a great ornament to this city and an incentive to still further and greater efforts along the same lines" (3/31/1905, p. 5). It was restored in 2009-10 at cost of $852,000.

This building was individually listed on the National Register on 30 January 1978, and it was later included as element #18 in the Biloxi Downtown Historic District Boundary Increase, which was placed on the National Register on 13 January 2015. It was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 15 January 1986.

It is included in "The Buildings of Biloxi" (1976, pp. 89-90; 2000, pp. 96-97; and 2010, pp. 96-97), and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p. 348, GC24).
Brief Description
See National Register nomination for detailed description.
Historic Information
Designed and built under the direction of James Knox Taylor (1857-1929), Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. This building appears to be essentially identical to the original design of the Old Federal Building in Salisbury, North Carolina, which was completed in 1911.