Customhouse, Peninsula Bank
You are here
Ambler's Storehouse (Customhouse, Peninsula Bank)
c. 1721. 1929–1930, restoration, W. Duncan Lee. Main St. at Read St. (southwest corner)
-
(Photograph by Matthew Aungst)
The impressive two-story store, with a prominent belt course and segmental arches over the doors and windows, is the only remaining element of successful merchant Richard Ambler's residential and commercial complex, begun about 1721. Ambler was customs collector, and the store has long been identified as the customhouse. It has the form of a conventional early Virginia store, with an unheated public room in front of a heated office. Emma Chenoweth led the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in restoring the building in 1929–1930 according to plans by Richmond architect W. Duncan Lee.
Writing Credits
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.