Custom House

Custom House, monument in Dublin, Ireland, a Georgian masterpiece designed by James Gandon. It is sited on the bank of the River Liffey. Begun in 1781, the Custom House was the first major public building built in Dublin as an isolated structure with four monumental façades. It was originally planned by John Beresford, chief commissioner of revenue, and his friend Luke Gardiner. A large stone in the bed of the Liffey was preventing craft from reaching the old customs point further upstream, and this was ostensibly the argument for building a new one. However, the prime reason for backing the scheme was that it served their own purpose to move the commercial centre of the city eastwards. The building was finished in 1791 at a cost of £200,000. The exterior is richly adorned with sculptures and coats-of-arms by Thomas Banks, Agnostino Carlini, and Edward Smyth, who carved a series of 14 sculpted keystones symbolizing the rivers of Ireland. The pediment sculpture on the south front, depicting the union of Britannia and Hibernia, was designed by Carlini but executed by Smyth, who also created the statue of Commerce on the dome.

During the battle for Dublin in the Irish Civil War, the interior of the Custom House was destroyed by a fire that blazed for five days. The building underwent major reconstruction and the dome and drum, which had melted, were rebuilt in Ardbraccan limestone rather than the original Portland stone. Further restoration work was carried out by the Office of Public Works in the 1980s, after it was discovered that the large cornice was in danger of collapsing due to damage sustained during the fire.