Significance: The U.S. Immigrant Station and Assay Office (Federal Building, Immigration and Naturalization Service), is significant both architecturally and culturally. Built for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the low-scaled, brick-faced building is a well-preserved example of the classically-derived Mediterranean Revival Style. It was designed in 1929 under the supervision of the U.S. Treasury Department which, at the time, encouraged the use of the understated, restrained, classical revival style for federal buildings across the country. In this nation-wide context, the building is significant as a well-proportioned, simply detailed example of that style. When completed in 1931, the building houses both U.S. Immigration Offices and Detention Facilities, which served primarily as a detention center for undocumented Chinese immigrants, and a U.S. Assay Facility, which was first opened primarily to analyze the gold and silver brought from Alaska and Canada during the Klondike Gold Rush. These two seemingly unrelated agencies have individual histories that contribute to the historic significance of the building. - US Library of Congress