Anyone strolling along Victoria’s Wharf Street can’t help but notice a unique building painted strawberry milkshake pink. But without pausing to read the plaque out front, few will realize this historic building (formally known as Customs House) is more than just harbour eye-candy; it was also a critical part in forming Victoria’s history as a vibrant port town.
In 1874 the city of Victoria was beginning to boom as a major port, so the federal government built Customs House on the edge of the harbour to be the first stop for people migrating into the city, as well as anyone doing government trade business. Designed in a Italianate style, Customs House was where people declared goods, paid duties, and picked up minor land deeds. In short, anyone doing anything that involved shipping, property, or taxes would have to pass through the building.
Then in 1858 things really exploded when, almost overnight, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush brought a jaw-dropping 20,000 to 30,000 fortune hunters through Victoria, and each one had to stop at Customs House to get permits and/or mining deeds before heading off to the gold fields on the mainland. But B.C. gold fever didn’t end there.
By the 1880s, smaller rushes in the Cariboo and Cassiar kept the capital city humming with miners, merchants, and opportunists who passed through Victoria’s harbour, heading straight to Customs House to register supplies, get permits, declare their mining tools and “camp provisions” - often being (although never claimed as) several barrels of whiskey... Camp provisions, indeed!
Customs House (with ships in front) can be clearly seen in this drawing from 1889
Inside Customs House, a small army of clerks handled hundreds and hundreds of people each month. These weren’t glamorous jobs by any means: clerks stamped forms, counted crates, and logged land claims, all by the dim of candlelight. Still, it was important work, and the Customs House was essential in keeping the region’s economy (and chaos) under control.
Beyond gold and gear, Customs House also processed land transactions—meaning if someone was claiming a plot of land or trying to sort out property boundaries, it was where plans needed to be registered. This was especially important since Victoria was still growing, and those minor deeds helped shape the future layout of the city itself.
By the 1920s, however, Victoria’s status as a trade centre had declined, and the Customs House quietly retired from federal service. But it never disappeared. Instead, they preserved it as a historic site—one of the oldest surviving federal buildings in Western Canada—and it took on new life as office and commercial space with a front row view of Victoria's inner harbour.
But what about the iconic colour? That didn’t happen until 1970, when the building was painted pink to, as the debate goes, either to draw attention to it's historic charm, or to simply brighten up a gloomy street corner. No one really knows.
Either way, today the building still stands tall and proud (and unapologetically pink). And while its bureaucratic days are behind it, its history as vivid as ever. Next time you pass by, give it a nod, and read the plaque to get the full story of all its past glory.
Why not take a HIDDEN VICTORIA Iconic and Obscure Tour and learn more about this, and some of the other 1,000 heritage buildings in Victoria? Our professional guides love to share their secrets!