Author Description

There has been much written about James Gandon's great masterpiece, completed in 1791, and plans, paintings, drawings, etchings, photographs, etc. abound. This selection of images, each with its own commentary, takes a detailed look at the Custom House and its surrounds over the last two centuries from the point of view of the changes in the structure of the building itself, dock development and dockside activity, the adjoining buildings in Beresford Place and on the Quays, river traffic and the movement of bridges towards the sea. The title itself evokes the nature the contents which are introduced by noted architectural historian, Maurice Craig.