Custom House

The Custom House is a building constructed in 1781 and rebuilt in replica in 1814, currently serving as a commercial premises.

It features Flemish bond brickwork with stone and rubbed brick dressings, topped by a hipped slate roof with brick ridges and lateral stacks at the rear. The building has a double-depth plan, with a principal room located at the rear on the first floor.

The Custom House has two upper storeys and a semi-basement. Its front, facing west, is three bays wide, with four-bay side returns to the north and south. The principal façade includes a basement impost band, moulded timber eaves, and a central pedimented bay that is set forward. The central porch is supported by Tuscan columns and features an entablature that carries a cast-iron Royal Coat of Arms, which was restored around 1990. The entrance has double panelled doors and is approached by symmetrical segmental curved stairs with wrought-iron railings, mirroring those of Poole’s mid-18th century Guildhall, which is also listed. Flanking the entrance porch are six-over-six-pane sash windows, while the central top-floor window is blank, with three-over-three-pane sash windows on either side. Below the entrance, the semi-basement has a keyed, segmental-arched doorway with a half-glazed door. The window openings in the semi-basement are round-arched, while those on the upper two storeys are flat-arched.

On the side returns, the semi-basement serves as a lower ground floor, with fenestration that matches the front elevation. This includes an impost band, a doorway, and three windows; above, there are four sash windows on the first floor and four shorter sashes on the upper floor, along with two blocked openings on the return facing Paradise Street.

Internally, the ground floor is reported to have been altered but is said to contain a rear axial stair and a roof supported by four paired king-post trusses, with two on each tie beam.