Former Customs House and Mercantile Marine Office

This is a former Customs House and Mercantile Marine Office, built in a Neo Baroque style. The building is constructed of red brick with Portland stone dressings, featuring band courses. It is two storeys and an attic with a basement on the Dockview Road side, and has a slate roof with brick chimney stacks. A small cupola and Doric columns incorporate a navigation lantern. The main facade, facing Station Street, has five windows, with gables to the end bays and a dentil cornice and frieze. The left gable has a broad chimney stack to its apex, with ball finials to the kneelers; a circular attic window is set within a freestone surround. The right-hand gable also features similar kneelers and a tall apex finial, along with a rectangular attic window. Horned sash windows are positioned below the semicircular and sculptured pediments. The centre of the first floor has three-linked cross-frame windows with freestone surrounds ornamented by Ionic pilasters, with carved animal and heraldic bases. Smaller, round-headed windows with small panes are found below, each with lugged architraves, keystones and bracket sills. The main entrance is on the left side, and is framed by a tall, pedimented doorcase featuring Ionic pilasters, an inscribed frieze, and elaborate sculpted detail within the pediment. A smaller, pedimented doorcase is located at the right-hand end. A dentil cornice and parapet spans the rounded corner, where the roof is also curved and features three gabled dormers. Five round-headed casement windows are grouped on the first floor, contained within a freestone surround with swagged aprons and dividing Ionic pilasters. Stepped, square-headed staircase windows are positioned below, with the left-hand lower line of steps descending into a channelled plinth which becomes a basement storey on the Dockview Road elevation. The Dockview Road elevation has a three-bay front with a Dutch-like gable to the right, displaying “ER” insignia on the kneelers. A raised aedicule sits at the apex, featuring a pediment, ball finial, and an armorial shield. A thermal window is located below the aedicule, including keyblocks and Edward VII’s crown to the keystone. A dentil cornice is continued around the second floor, supporting a segmental oriel with a balustraded parapet and a large Royal Coat of Arms at the centre. Ionic pilasters flank horned sashes, and a keyblocked tripartite window is situated below. To the left are three second-floor windows similar to those on the rounded corner; unornamented windows can be seen below. Iron barred basement windows flank the doorways.

Inside, the hall features Ionic columns and pilasters with scagliola work, pedimented architraves, and round-headed doorways. Corner windows illuminate a tall stairwell and the landing features a similar marble-effect column.