It is the oldest brick building on Key West, and it looks like it survived the war because it was built to handle the heavy lifting. Constructed between 1856 and 1861, this structure had a very specific job during the American Civil War: keeping the Union blockade running.
The Navy needed to move coal to fuel steamships, and they needed to do it fast. This site served as a naval supplies depot for the East Gulf Blockade Squadron. While the rest of the island was dealing with the chaos of the Confederacy, these walls were busy organizing the fuel that kept the blockade ships moving.
The building eventually retired from its coal-burning glory and served as a Naval Administration Building until 1923. It then had a brief stint as the headquarters for the 7th Lighthouse District from 1932 to 1939, before the Coast Guard took over the keys in 1939.
Today, it sits at the corner of Front and Whitehead Streets as the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. You can still see the brick masonry walls laid in common bond on top of its limestone foundation. It is a sturdy, unpretentious survivor of a much louder era.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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