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)

view up the west end of the south elevation


south elevation onto Govan Road and the old large advertising frame to the left og the beginning of the sweep of the glazing


security grille on south elevation


view west along the south elevation


the first of the five entrance doors under the sweeping canopy


curved glazing turning the corner of Govan Road and McKechnie Street


frontage curvature sweeps down into McKechnie Street


photograph of the printed canvas stretched over the frontage glazing, the pattern of the glazing behind can be seen through the material to the top right of the image


corner location


east elevation onto McKechnie Street


view down the building's east elevation with the long horizontal lines zooming away from the viewer. Within the curved boundary wall the building protrudes upward with a brick box seen to the right of the photograph ascending from the top of the building.


exit doorway on the east elevation


horizontal banding on the east elevation


three colours of glazed tiles topped by deep red horizontal banding stretch around the building's frontage


view south back down the east elevation towards Govan Road.




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