Custom House:
Designed by John Taylor (pre-1775-c.1841) and opened in 1840, Custom House is a large south facing classically styled blond sandstone building sited on the north side of the River Clyde. With four doric pillars across the frontage between a pair of pilasters the frontage is topped by the carved lion and unicorn of the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The small pedimented door sits centrally on the banded ashlar ground floor, with the floor above faced with polished ashlar.
The building has sat empty since at least 2007 and is steadily decaying, sliding down the road from vacant to derelict. There are current (Apr 2012) proposals for the building of a major hotel utilising the front of the Custom House as a Clyde Street frontage, although at this stage the future is still uncertain and the proposed designs are sure to provoke controversy as they are bold and very large in scale. The internal condition is not known, although the building appears from the south and north to be largely watertight and secure. The ashlar at points exhibits a range of stone decay from heavy erosion on parts of the columns where the fluting has been entirely smoothed to loss of the stone's surface in parts most probably from the cycle of the stone becoming wet, then drying out and the action of freeze and thaw. Considering the age of the building and its exposure the general state of repair appears fair. The east and west ends with triple windows over the entrance to the left and window to the right are not original having been added after the initial construction later in the 19th century. The building also underwent limited internal modifications carried out by the famed Glasgow architect Alexander 'Greek' Thomson in 1873.


street address: 298-306 Clyde Street, Glasgow, G1 4JE
Latitude / Longitude: 55.856333,-4.256686 (sourced using Google Maps)
site visit date: 25 October 2011

view east along the south elevation onto Clyde Street (25/10/2011)


the west end of the front elevation, the first floor extension is not original to the 1840 opening date (25/10/2011)


the four doric columned facade, flanked by pilasters and following a strict classical symmetry (25/10/2011)


the small central main door on the south elevation (25/10/2011)


front doors: 'buildng is now closed' (25/10/2011)


view up acros the front door (25/10/2011)


heavy erosion of the doric first floor pillars has left the stone smoothed where it once was fluted (25/10/2011)


the coat of arms of the United Kingdom sits atop the building (25/10/2011)


view up the south elevation (25/10/2011)


traditional timber sash and case window at ground floor level with banded ashalr surround (25/10/2011)


the east end of the south elevation, again the first floor portion of this part of the building was a later addition (25/10/2011)


decay of the stonework at ground floor level (25/10/2011)


winodw at ground floor level at the east end of the south elevation. The difference in the stone beneath the window and vertical line of the stones to the right confirm that where this window is sited was once an entrance like still exiists at the west end of the south elevation (25/10/2011)


keystone over the three part fenestration (25/10/2011)


view from the east back along Clyde Street (25/10/2011)




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