On this day the foundation of a new Custom House was laid in Kolkata by Lord Hastings.
Previously a Custom House had been operating from the old Fort William. After the old fort was completely evacuated, the British felt the necessity to construct a bigger Custom House. The new Custom House, which would later come to be known as Old Custom House, was a broad two-storied building constructed on the site of old fort, on the western side of Tank Square. In 1899, the building was renovated.
The foundation stone of the new Custom House, at 15/1 Strand Road, Kolkata, facing the river Hooghly, was laid on February 10, 1940.
Its construction was completed in 1942, in the middle of World War II.
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