Customs House Facelift

opwmattersCustoms House Facelift

The Customs House in Dublin has been given a ‘face lift’ in preparation for the centenary anniversary of the burning of the stunning neoclassical landmark.

OPW Conservation Services and (BMS) Building Maintenance Services coordinated and carried out a programme of planned maintenance works to the exterior of the Customs House. The works included the cleaning and repointing of granite paving and steps to the surround landscape, painting of 315 linear meters of cast-iron railings, full refurbishment of all windows to the Liffey façade, painting of all 536 windows & external doors, and specialist cleaning and localised repairs of the stone façade.

Where required, extensive window restoration was completed in the BMS joinery workshop at Collins Barracks. The sash windows were restored using traditional restoration techniques. Windows were assessed and repaired with splicing repairs using new timber (southern yellow pine) with the team retaining as much of the historic timber as possible. Windows were then primed for painting and re-puttied before being brought back to site for reinstallation.

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Custom House, Dublin – Building Maintenance Services (BMS) External Works

moving in opposite directions, vehicles of imports and exports. Symbols of Irelands beef trade and tanning trade are carved on the frieze below. Above the pediment are the Agostino Carlini carved statues of Neptune and Mercury and Edward Smyth carved statues of Industry and Plenty, and that of Commerce on top of the dome.

The works to the pediment have been recently featured in architectural historian Christine Casey’s CRAFTVALUE blog: craftvalue.org/ dublincustom-house-a-view-from-thepediment/

The South/Liffey Portland stone façade had experienced a greater build-up of black carbon/gypsum on the stone due to the proximity to the road. All granite and Portland stone facades were given a low pressure, high temperature steam clean. The Portland stone south/Liffey facade portico with pediment and the ground level windows decorative surrounds, including river gods, had a careful chemical clean with an alkaline cleaning solution which breaks down and softens the carbon/gypsum deposits before rinsing with steam.

A full digital scan record of the river gods and the sculpture to the southern pediment has also been carried out, to record their condition and monitor weathering. In the centre of the pediment, high above the Liffey entrance to the Custom House, the two female figures represent ‘the friendly union of Britannia and Hibernia’. Personified winds speed the passage of two ships

James Lynch from BMS restoring the sash windows using traditional techniques

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