85-87 Waterloo Quay, Aberdeen

85-87 Waterloo Quay in Aberdeen is a former Custom House building attributed to John Smith, dating from 1837. This three-storey and attic structure features a three-bay design in the Classical style, constructed from grey granite ashlar. The ground floor has a base course with channelled rustication, and there is a cill course at the first floor along with a blocking course and a substantial moulded cornice. The ground floor includes segmental arched openings, with a double-leaf timber door in the first bay and a segmental-arched tripartite fanlight above it. To the left, there is a single-storey wing with two bays. The first floor openings have moulded margins and projecting architraves, while the second floor features raised cills. The east elevation has four bays, with blind openings in the first and second bays at the upper floors. It also has a wallhead nepus gable stack with a central attic window and coping, along with a slightly recessed bay on the far right that includes a ground floor door and another wallhead gable. The rear (west) elevation has a single round 'porthole' window.

The building has 12-pane timber sash and case windows and a grey slate roof with coped ashlar end stacks.

Inside, the building was converted to offices in the 1980s. The principal ground floor rooms have plaster cornices, and there is a timber balustraded dog-leg staircase. The boardroom features decorative cornice plasterwork and an integral timber chimneypiece. The large, shallow-vaulted basement has a flagstone floor and brick shelving.