"The triangular building recently taken down, was situated at a short distance from Faneuil Hall, and at the northeast of the vacant space around it. It made a corner of an avenue from Market Square to Ann Street. The land was granted to Governor Bellingham about 1640. The building was forty-eight feet by fifty. It was of brick, and covered with slate. The lower story was arched with several doors and windows. There was a tower in the centre and at each end of the building. The tradition is, that this building was anciently a custom-house; another account is, that it was built by London merchants in 1700, for a place to store the goods sent by them to Boston for the New England market. It was long a place of considerable business, and the public scales were formerly kept there."
