Built of Petersburg granite and constructed between 1856 and 1860, the U.S. Customs House and Post Office was designed by Ammi B. Young, architect of the U.S. Treasury Department building in Washington D.C. The decision to add the third story was made during construction. During the Civil War, this upper story served as headquarters for the Confederate military department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina, commanded variously by James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, George E. Pickett, and P.G.T. Beauregard.
The three southern bays of the building were added between 1908 and 1910. In 1938, the building was renovated as part of a Works Progress Administration project to become Petersburg's City Hall, and retains that use today.
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