Historical Background of Victoria
General Progress on Wharf Street
List of Wharf Street Businesses
Customs House
The Customs House at the foot of Broughton Street at Wharf is the oldest federal building in Victoria. The design for the building came from the Department of Public Works in Ottawa, which was then under the administration of chief architect T.S. Scott. The construction began in spring of 1874 and was completed in mid-August 1875. The Mansard style of the structure, emulating the Parliament Buildings was the national style in Canada for many years. The foundation and brickwork was contracted to local business operator Maurice Humber and the stone used in the construction was from Thetis Island.40 The total cost of the building was 28,000 dollars.41
The building is three stories from the front with a fourth floor on the back. The lower receiving floor, with the higher offices and rooftop viewing deck was characteristic of traditional European and American designs. The location of the building permitted easy access to the water and served as a reminder to locals and visitors of British Columbia’s status as Canada’s most western province and port.42 The visual and ideological significance of the building was clearly noted in a Daily Colonist editorial from July 8, 1873:
The Customs House is to be erected at the foot of Broughton Street…it may at least be hoped that a building of some architectural pretensions will adorn so conspicuous a site…Nor is it merely a Customs House for the same building is to accommodate the Department of Public Works, Marine and Fisheries, and Finance. For a building combining all these duties we may find the sum to $20,000 set down in the estimates. To assert that such an amount is wholly and palpably inadequate to the production of such an edifice as would at once become the prominent site chosen, and be creditable and just to the Pacific Province and the Dominion Government will most assuredly not be entering upon controversial ground…The Dominion authorities ought not to make either present population or revenue the gauge in matter of this nature. British Columbia stands alone, the sole representative of the Dominion on the Pacific and it seems of no little importance that the greater Britain of America should put on a good Pacific face…We had no desire to ask anything unreasonable yet we much decidedly object to the erection of so shabby a building for the purposes on so conspicuous a site. And we do this scarcely for the credit of the Dominion than in the interest of the Province more immediately concerned.43
To local resident Emily Carr, the stairs of the Custom’s House were high and dignified.44 Furthermore, Martin Segger and Douglas Franklin note in Exploring Victoria’s Architecture:
The Mansard roofline evoked the style of the Canadian presence and law amid the turbulent events that accompanied the massive immigration of gold rush miners, merchant adventurers, and land speculators of the boom-and-bust early economy of the province.45
Customs House - 1870s
Miners Applying for Licences at Customs House - 1890s
Present Day Photo of the Customs House - 2003