Custom House, 16-18 Union Street, Bo'Ness

The Custom House, located at 14 Union Street in Bo'Ness, was designed by William Simpson of Stirling around 1880. This extensive two-storey commercial building features a splayed angle to the west. The structure has a deep base course that forms the ground floor cill course, along with a stepped band course and an eaves course. It is constructed from squared and snecked bull-faced rubble with ashlar dressings. The ground floor has roll-moulded segmental-headed openings, while the first floor features basket-arched openings. The building includes deeply moulded doorheads, hoodmoulds with label stops, bracketed piend roofs, raked cills, stop-chamfered arrises, stone transoms, and mullions.

On the north elevation, the prominent central bay showcases paired panelled timber doors with plate glass fanlights, all linked under a segmental hoodmould that features a high relief carved crown flanked by the letters 'V' and 'R'. Above, a bipartite window on the first floor displays the cast-iron letters 'CUSTOM HOUSE', which break the eaves into a corbelled cornice and piended roof. The flanking bays contain single and bipartite windows, with two additional doors on the left and one on the right at ground level, and smaller piend-roofed bays on the first floor. The outer left bay has a transomed bipartite window on the first floor, topped with floreate carved 'lights' flanked by canine gargoyles, breaking the eaves into a spike-finialled pavilion roof.

The east elevation features a single window on the ground floor and a bipartite window on the first floor. The south elevation, facing Register Street, has similar door and window treatments. The windows are timber sash and case with 4-pane and plate glass glazing patterns. The roof is covered with grey slates, and there are coped ashlar stacks with cans, along with decorative cast-iron finials.

Inside, the building has seen little alteration, retaining decorative plasterwork cornices and centre roses. The interiors include stone dog-leg staircases with decorative cast-iron balusters, architraved surrounds, panelled timber shutters, and both carved and plain timber fire surrounds. Additionally, there is an etched glass screen door and a tiled hall leading to No 7 Register Street.