Custom House, London. From 1825 Views Of London. The Custom-House of London appears to much advantage in the accompanying view. Flanked by the little  navy of Billingsgate, with a glimpse of the dome of St. Paul’s, the Monument, and London-Bridge in the distance, it stands forward in majestic composure on the edge of the Thames. The first stone of this building was laid on the Twenty-fifth of October, 1813, the fifty-third Anniversary of his late Majesty’s Accession, and it was opened for business on the twelfth of May, 1817; the old Custom-House in the interim (February, 1814) having been consumed by fire. It is built after a plan by David Laing, Esq. and cost in the erection 167,000 pound besides 29,300 pound paid for the property on which it stands, after deducting 12,440 pounds received for old materials. The length of the front here presented, which is executed in Portland stone, is 484 feet, 101 inches. The architectural beauties of the Custom House consist in an appropriate simplicity of style, combined with a classical adherence, throughout, to the rules of just proportion. As the Official Registry of the exports and imports of the State, where the complicated concerns of the mercantile interests of this vast Empire are reduced under a few general heads, it imparts a profound moral attraction to the scene.