  thumb|250px|the southern faÃ§ade of the custom house. the custom house () is a neoclassical 18th-century building in dublin, ireland which houses the department of the environment, community and local government. it is located on the north bank of the river liffey, on custom house quay between butt bridge and talbot memorial bridge. the building of a new custom house for dublin was the idea of john beresford, who became first commissioner of revenue for ireland in 1780. in 1781 he appointed james gandon as architect, after thomas cooley, the original architect on the project, had died. this was gandon's first large scale commission. the new custom house was unpopular with the dublin corporation and some city merchants who complained that it moved the axis of the city, would leave little room for shipping, and it was being built on what at the time was a swamp. purchase of land was delayed and proved exorbitant and the laying of foundations was disrupted by the high sheriff and members of the dublin corporation with a mob of several thousand. however, beresford was determined to complete the project and ignored the protests.sarah atkinson, essays, 1896. p.402    for his assistants gandon chose irish artists such as meath stone-cutter henry darley, mason john semple and carpenter hugh henry. every available mason in dublin was engaged in the work. when it was completed and opened for business on 7 november 1791, it cost Â£200,000 to build â a huge sum at the time. the four facades of the building are decorated with coats-of-arms and ornamental sculptures (by edward smyth) representing ireland's rivers. another artist, henry banks, was responsible for the statue on the dome and other statues. thumb|250px|the custom house at night. as the port of dublin moved further downriver, the building's original use for collecting custom duties became obsolete, and it was used as the headquarters of local government in ireland. during the irish war of independence in 1921, the irish republican army burnt down the custom house, in an attempt to disrupt british rule in ireland. gandon's original interior was completely destroyed in the fire and the central dome collapsed. a large quantity of irreplaceable historical records were also destroyed in the fire. des
Buildings_and_structures_in_Dublin_(city) Custom_houses Visitor_attractions_in_Dublin_(city)