The Old Custom House of Bangor is a 17th-century tower and adjoining tower house. It is situated on the seafront in
Bangor,
County Down
County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
,
Northern Ireland. It is a well-preserved reminder of Bangor's seafaring history alongside its modern marina.
Originally built as a custom house by
The 1st Viscount Claneboye in 1637, the
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
of the tower is unique in Bangor and rare in
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label=Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
. Over the past 300 years the building has served various purposes – private dwellings, an antique shop and housed hot
seawater
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appr ...
baths.
The future of the Tower House was protected when the Historic Buildings Branch of the
Department of the Environment (D.o.E.) added it to their "List of Buildings of Special Interest" in 1979. Today, Tower House serves as the Council's Tourist Information Centre.
It is located at by the Coast Guard building very near the bottom of High Street, Bangor, Co.Down.
{{coord, 54.6648, -5.6674, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Buildings and structures completed in 1637
Buildings and structures in County Down
Bangor, County Down
Custom houses in the United Kingdom
Grade A listed buildings
1637 establishments in the British Empire