Custom House and Attached Rear Area Wall and Piers

CUSTOM HOUSE AND ATTACHED REAR AREA WALL AND PIERS, QUEEN SQUARE

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Explore this list entry

Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1282153
Date first listed:
04-Mar-1977
List Entry Name:
Custom House and Attached Rear Area Wall and Piers
Statutory Address:
CUSTOM HOUSE AND ATTACHED REAR AREA WALL AND PIERS, QUEEN SQUARE
User submitted image
Contributed by David Lovell This photo may not represent the current condition of the site. Over 400,000 images and stories have been added to the Missing Pieces Project so far. Share your story.
View all

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places. 

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

Icon Buildings
Icon Scheduled monuments
Icon Parks and gardens
Icon Battlefields
Icon Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Images of England Project

To view this image please use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge.
Archive image, may not represent current condition of site.
Date:
2001-06-30
Reference:
IOE01/11852/25
Rights:
© Ms Ruth Povey. Source: Historic England Archive

Local Heritage Hub

Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.

Discover more

Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II*
List Entry Number:
1282153
Date first listed:
04-Mar-1977
Date of most recent amendment:
30-Dec-1994
List Entry Name:
Custom House and Attached Rear Area Wall and Piers
Statutory Address 1:
CUSTOM HOUSE AND ATTACHED REAR AREA WALL AND PIERS, QUEEN SQUARE

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
CUSTOM HOUSE AND ATTACHED REAR AREA WALL AND PIERS, QUEEN SQUARE

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:
City of Bristol (Unitary Authority)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
ST 58784 72650

Details

BRISTOL

ST5872NE QUEEN SQUARE 901-1/16/219 (North side) 04/03/77 Custom House and attached rear area wall and piers (Formerly Listed as: QUEEN SQUARE (North side) The Custom House)

GV II*

Customs house. 1836. By Sidney Smirke. Limestone ashlar, ridge and party wall stacks, roof not visible. Double-depth plan. Neoclassical style. 2 storeys, attic and basement; 5-window range. A symmetrical front has a plinth to a sill band, plat band, first-floor sill band and impost band, frieze and bracketed cornice, and parapet with raised dies. Banded ground floor, rusticated quoins on the first floor. A large doorway has paired pilasters to an entablature, with a plinth above with raised ends, and a carving of the Royal Coat of Arms; 9-pane overlight and 2-leaf 4-panel door, with an inner 2-leaf 6-panel door with glazed round central panels. 6/6-pane ground-floor sashes, and tall semicircular-arched first-floor windows with moulded archivolts, to 6/9-pane sashes. Right-hand return has 3-window range, with 3/3-pane attic sashes set below the cornice, and basement windows with grille to pavement lights. Rear has projecting right-hand section, and gabled left-hand with semicircular-arched windows. INTERIOR: traces in basement of the early C18 house destroyed in the riots, with tooled Pennant walls and timbers, and security doors. Also a C19 range and cast-iron fireplace. Central top-lit stair well has c1950 open-well stair; principal first-floor room has 2 large acanthus ceiling roses, cornice, and doorway with consoles to a pediment; dogleg winder service stair to the attic has stick balusters and column newels; doorways with panelled reveals and soffits, and 6-panel doors. SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached rusticated Pennant ashlar walls and piers to rear area. Replaced the Custom House destroyed in the Reform Bill riots of 1831. (Gomme A, Jenner M and Little B: Bristol, An Architectural History: Bristol: 1979-: 237).

Listing NGR: ST5878472650

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
380267
Legacy System:
LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Gomme, A H, Jenner, M, Little, B D G, Bristol, An Architectural History, (1979), 237

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Custom House and Attached Rear Area Wall and Piers

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 14:31:33.

Download a full scale map (PDF)
© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

Previous Overview
Next Comments and Photos