Number 18 And Attached Walls And Railings

Number 18 is an office building with attached walls and railings, constructed in 1879 and with an office addition of 1913 designed by J.B. Ball. The office is built in banded limestone ashlar and red brick, showcasing an Edwardian Classical style. It has a plain tile roof and an L-shaped plan, featuring an entrance and a single room at the front.

The exterior is two storeys and a single bay, with a gabled front. It includes a moulded plinth. The entrance, located on the left, has a recessed door and overlight within a tall moulded ashlar surround, incorporating a deep frieze, a moulded cornice, and a shallow hood. To the right of the entrance is a large window with three plate-glass lights, similarly framed in ashlar with moulded reveals, sills, an apron, a deep frieze, and a cornice. The first floor features three six-over-six sash windows in ashlar surrounds with matching moulded detailing and a tympanum above the central window. A pair of slit-lights are positioned above the first-floor windows. The gable has moulded coping and shaped kneelers.

The left return showcases a pair of ground-floor casements, along with a narrow, gabled projection containing a tripartite ground-floor window and a triple-window above, all in matching ashlar surrounds with banded and coped gables. The right return has three windows in similar ashlar surrounds. Corbelled side-wall stacks with panelled and banded shafts and ashlar caps are present on both the front and rear elevations.

The interior features a panelled entrance lobby and corniced ceilings.

The walls and railings are constructed of red brick with ashlar coping and cast-iron railings. There are two sections: a short curved section attached to the front-left of the office and a longer straight section running alongside the Customs House. Both sections include a dwarf brick wall with a chamfered ashlar plinth, square-section end-piers with pyramidal caps, and cast-iron railings with alternating barley-twist and plain bars, shaped finials, and points above a single top rail. The rear railings also have square-section principals with ball finials. These walls and railings originally enclosed gardens which housed the Albert Statue, now located on Royal Street. They are included for group value with the Customs House.