Regiments Of Gloucestershire Museum

The Regiments of Gloucestershire Museum, originally the HM Custom and Excise Office, is located on Commercial Road in Gloucester. Completed in 1845 by architect Sydney Smirke for the Customs Commissioners, it underwent minor alterations around 1985 to convert it into a museum. The building features ashlar stone on the front and sides, with brick at the rear, and has a slate roof with a brick stack.

It is a symmetrical, double-depth structure with two storeys and a basement. The front facade facing Commercial Road has an offset plinth, raised bands at the first floor and first-floor sill levels, a crowning cornice, and a coped parapet. The corners of the building are accentuated with long raised and chamfered quoins. The ground floor features a centrally located porch with a slight projection, framed by pilasters and an entablature, topped with a parapet. On either side of the porch are sash windows, with additional widely spaced sashes to the left and right, all set in plain openings with projecting stone sills. The first floor mirrors this pattern, with three closely spaced sashes in the center, each adorned with architraves and floating cornices. All sashes contain glazing bars arranged in a 3x4 pane configuration. Above the center of the parapet, the royal arms are carved in stone. The elevations at each end of the building have three sashes on each floor, maintaining similar details to the front. The rear elevation, which faces the Docks, is constructed of brick and includes a late 20th-century glazed extension.

The museum was established to accommodate the significant increase in foreign trade that flowed through Gloucester Docks during the latter half of the 19th century.