The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Landmark city building goes on sale, sparking hopes it will be restored
One of Dundee’s most prominent and historic buildings could finally be restored after being put on the market.
Custom House on Dock Street is being sold via Savills for an undisclosed asking price.
The Grade A-listed Georgian mansion house dates from the 1840s and was originally the base of Dundee Port Authority.
It was previously used as a TV studio and an office building but has lain empty for the past 13 years. It was put on Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register in 2009.
Custom House was previously owned by Apex Hotels but was sold in January 2020 to Dundee-based property development firm Alicydon.
The company employed
JM Architects in Edinburgh to draw up plans to convert the building into luxury apartments and two new-build blocks with private parking and landscaped communal grounds.
Dundee City Council approved the plans in October last year.
They will see the main building converted into 20 luxury flats and 29 flats across the two new-build structures.
The plans would see a single-storey 1930s extension demolished, however its frontage will be retained as part of the new builds.
The larger new block will contain 22 units over five storeys including two luxury penthouse flats forming a rooftop pavilion.
A smaller block will contain seven flats over five storeys. All flats will come with a private parking space.
In addition to the main entrance and vestibule area, some of the original walls will be kept along with the internal staircase, which Historic Environment Scotland has said is the building’s most important feature. In the grounds, remnants of the granite Calcutta Lane and its railway tracks will be retained and made into a design feature.
Dundee City Council, Dundee Civic Trust, Dundee City Centre and Harbour Community Council and Historic Environment Scotland were consulted for input into the building’s planned restoration. Having secured planning permission
Alicydon has now put Custom House up for sale.
The building comes with 0.94 acres of grounds and a crescent shaped section of land owned by Dundee City Council is available for purchase by separate negotiation, which when added would create a rectangular plot.
Custom House was designed by architects John Taylor and James Leslie and build over the course of 1842-43.
The building was designed in the neoclassical style and includes Greek Revival detailing. In the 1880s a three-storey rectangular wing was formed from the south-east corner of the original building while in the 1930s a single-story extension to this wing was added.
The property retains a wealth of historic internal features including fireplaces, oak panelling, staircases and an ornate entrance vestibule hall.
It occupies a prime site next to City Quay and a short distance from the V&A, Slessor Gardens and the Caird Hall. Restoring the building is a key part of Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront regeneration plan.
In their design statement the developers said: “Our approach to the design of this project is based on the architectural and historical context in which the building was designed, the history of the city of Dundee, its industry, its cultural development, its waterfront and harbourside, and the architectural legacy this historical era has left.”