Custom House And Rear Courtyard Walls

FALMOUTH

SW8132NW ARWENACK STREET 843-1/8/25 (North East side) 23/01/73 Custom House and rear courtyard walls (Formerly Listed as: ARWENACK STREET (North East side) Custom House)

GV II*

Custom house. 1814. Stucco on rubble; dry slate roof; balustraded look-out platform; rear lateral brick stack. Rectangular plan. Greek Revival style. Single-storey front with hexastyle Doric portico with plain frieze with central Royal Arms and triangular pediment above parapet cornice. Original round-arched doorway with spoked fanlight, centrally placed within portico; and 12-pane hornless sash on left with pair of panelled shutters; iron railings behind columns. Right of portico is a granite niche to the RNLI; farther to the right is a C20 12-pane horned sash. Rear is single storey over basement, 7-window range with original 12-pane sashes except for C20 copy on the left; mid-floor string. Basement has segmental-arched openings with original 20-pane sashes and shutters except for opening towards right with ledged door and 9-pane fixed light. On the left is a small rubble-walled courtyard. INTERIOR not accessible but likely to be of interest. HISTORY: There has been a custom house in Falmouth since 1650. From the late C18 the Custom House was moved to what is now No.2 Bank Place (qv) to be near the Killigrew quays and finally due to increasing trade this purpose-built custom house was erected in 1814. A fine building, this style being chosen for other buildings of this type such as the Custom House by Foulston at Devonport. (Gilson P: Falmouth in Old Photographs: Falmouth: 1990-: 58).

Listing NGR: SW8109532527