The Custom House

James Gandon's neoclassical masterpiece took ten years to build and about ten hours to burn. Completed in 1791 at a cost of £200,000 — an astronomical sum at the time — the Custom House is widely considered the finest 18th-century public building in Ireland. Its 114-metre-long facade along the Liffey is a symphony of Portland stone, Doric porticos, and an elegantly proportioned copper dome crowned by a statue of Commerce.

The four facades are decorated with sculptures by Edward Smyth representing Ireland's rivers — the heads of the Liffey, Shannon, Boyne, and ten others gaze out from keystones above the windows. They're masterful works of allegorical sculpture that most people passing on the bus never even notice.

On May 25, 1921, during the War of Independence, the IRA burned the Custom House to destroy British tax records and administrative files. Gandon's original interior was completely destroyed, the dome collapsed, and centuries of irreplaceable records were lost. Five IRA volunteers were killed and over eighty were captured — it was a military disaster but a propaganda triumph, demonstrating that British administration in Ireland could no longer function.

The building was rebuilt in 1928 using Ardbraccan limestone (the original Portland stone was unavailable in sufficient quantities), and a further restoration was completed in 1991 for its bicentenary. Today it houses the Department of Housing, and its reflection in the Liffey at sunset is one of Dublin's most painterly views. Gandon, incidentally, was English — hired by John Beresford after the original architect died — and he was so despised by Dublin merchants who opposed the project that he needed an armed guard during construction.