Margaret with its Renaissance porch, and a
bit of the guild hall of St. George the Martyr remains in King Street.
The custom-house, which was originally built as an exchange for the
Lynn merchants, is a notable building, and has a statue of Charles II
placed in a niche.
This was the earliest work of a local architect, Henry Bell, who is
almost unknown. He was mayor of King's Lynn, and died in 1717, and his
memory has been saved from oblivion by Mr. Beloe of that town, and is
enshrined in Mr. Blomfield's _History of Renaissance Architecture_:--
"This admirable little building originally consisted of an open
loggia about 40 feet by 32 feet outside, with four columns down
the centre, supporting the first floor, and an attic storey above.
The walls are of Portland stone, with a Doric order to the ground
storey supporting an Ionic order to the first floor. The cornice
is of wood, and above this is a steep-pitched tile roof with
dormers, surmounted by a balustrade inclosing a flat, from which
rises a most picturesque wooden cupola. The details are extremely
refined, and the technical knowledge and delicate sense of scale
and proportion shown in this building are surprising in a designer
who was under thirty, and is not known to have done any previous
work.
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