Editing Greenock (section)

=== Custom House and steamboats ===
{{Anchor|Custom House}}
{{Anchor|Custom House Quay}}
[[File:Custom House from quay, Greenock.jpg|thumb|The Custom House, viewed from Custom House Quay.]]
In 1714 Greenock became a [[custom house]] port as a branch of [[Port Glasgow]], and for a period this operated from rooms leased in Greenock. Receipts rose rapidly with the expansion of colonial trade, and in 1778 the custom house moved to newly-built premises at the West Quay of the harbour.<ref name="customhouse">{{harvnb|Monteith|2004|p=19}}</ref>

By 1791 a new pier was constructed at the East Quay. In 1812 Europe's first steamboat service was introduced by {{PS|Comet}} with frequent sailings between Glasgow, Greenock and [[Helensburgh]], and as trade built up the pier became known as Steamboat Quay.

The custom house needed larger premises and in May 1817 the foundation stone was laid at Steamboat Quay for a Custom House building designed by [[William Burn]], which was completed in 1818. Its gracious [[neoclassical architecture]] features a Grecian [[Doric order|Doric]] [[portico]] looking out over the quay,<ref name="customhouse" /><ref name="OS 6in 1857">{{cite web | title=OS Six-inch 1st edition, surveyed 1857, published 1864 (Renfrewshire, Sheet II) | website=National Library of Scotland, Map images | url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.2&lat=55.95008&lon=-4.74871&layers=257s&b=1&o=100&marker=55.948427,-4.750647 | access-date=29 April 2024}}</ref> which would eventually be renamed Custom House Quay.<ref name="OS 25in 1896">{{cite web | title=OS 25 inch 2nd edition, surveyed 1896, published 1897 | website=National Library of Scotland, Map images | url=https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=15.2&lat=55.95008&lon=-4.74871&layers=168s&b=1&o=100&marker=55.948427,-4.750647 | access-date=30 April 2024}}</ref> In 1828 the Custom House was praised as "a grand National Structure" in "the highest style of elegance". By then there were scheduled steamboat sailings to [[Belfast]], [[Derry]], Liverpool, [[Inverness]], [[Campbeltown]], the [[Hebrides]] and "all the principal places in the Highlands".<ref>{{harvnb|Wood|1828|pp=172–175}}</ref>

The Custom House underwent extensive refurbishment which was completed in 1989 and, until closure of the building in 2010, housed a customs and [[excise]] museum which was open to the public. In June 2008 [[HM Revenue and Customs]] (HMRC) announced that the building would close in 2011 as part of a rationalisation project with any jobs being transferred to offices in [[Glasgow]], and despite a campaign to oppose these plans, the building closed in August 2010.

Riverside Inverclyde arranged further refurbishment works, and in 2013 announced that space had already been let to companies including PG Paper Company Ltd and [[Toshiba]] which had planning permission to form meeting rooms and an executive office in the building.<ref>{{cite web
  | title       = Regeneration Projects Attracting Interest
  | url         = http://www.inverclydenow.com/today/10801-regeneration-projects-attracting-interest
  | publisher   = Inverclyde Now
  | date        = 16 November 2013
  | access-date  = 10 December 2013
  | url-status     = dead
  | archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212223938/http://www.inverclydenow.com/today/10801-regeneration-projects-attracting-interest
  | archive-date = 12 December 2013
  | df          = dmy-all
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web
  | url         = http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/13774549.PG_Paper_moves_to_Greenock_s_Custom_House/
  | title       = PG Paper moves to Greenock's Custom House
  | website     = HeraldScotland
  | date = 22 September 2015
 | language    = en
  | access-date = 2017-02-06
}}</ref> [[Greenock Telegraph]] estimated that £4.1 million has been spent over five-year period for the renovation works.<ref>{{Cite web
  | url         = http://www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/14497370.__4m_Greenock_Custom_House_project_nears_an_end/
  | title       = £4m Greenock Custom House project nears an end
  | website     = Greenock Telegraph
  | date = 17 May 2016
 | language    = en
  | access-date = 2017-02-06
}}</ref>