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Timaru Custom House
1901-2
2 Strathallan Street, Timaru.
Designed by Daniel West.
Built by Thomas Pringle.
Plasterwork by Emil Hall.
A listed category I historic place as a building of outstanding historical and cultural heritage significance.
Trade, authority and architectural pride
Tariffs were once the largest source of government revenue, right up until the First World War. Customs played a central role in shaping young towns like Timaru, and its legacy remains in one of the city’s most distinctive heritage buildings.
In 1857, naval officer Belfield Woollcombe (1816–1891) moved to Timaru as the first Government Agent. He took on a long list of roles including Resident Magistrate, Immigration Agent, Postmaster, Customs Officer, Harbourmaster, Beachmaster, Pilot, Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, and Health Officer. He held the office until 1878. He built one of Timaru’s earliest houses at Waimataitai Lagoon, which was later drained into Ashbury Park.
In 1861 Timaru was declared a legal port of entry to officially handle imports and exports under customs supervision. The customs operations were run out of Henry Le Cren’s store that doubled as a base for shipping and government work.
The first official Timaru customs agent was Alexander Rose (1840–1926). He was 16 when he arrived in Lyttelton from the UK. He went to private school in Auckland, then moved to Nelson as a cadet. He joined the Customs Department working in Christchurch, Nelson, Lyttelton and Auckland until his retirement.
At one point, Rose was caught up in a burst of gold fever and some say fell for hoax. The NZ gold rush kicked off in 1861 in Otago and people were hopeful to find more in the South Island. Rose held Canterbury’s first gold claim, but some say that “auriferous quartz” with gold was planted at the Timaru Opawa Stream (near Albury). An 1862 report stated there were some sedimentary rocks near Burke's Pass, which might be auriferous, but they didn’t find gold at Opawa.
In 1874 The Timaru Herald reported a piece of quartz, “studded with gold” was accidentally found near the brig Jane which had carried 60 tonnes of shingle ballast from Timaru beach to the UK. “People of Timaru surely are not aware of the wealth lying at their doors. If the reef from which this piece has been detached could be discovered, there would certainly be a rush to Timaru.”
The original Customs office stood in the path of the new railway line that arrived in 1871. So the agents relocated and from 1880s used the Post Office until the 1902 Custom House opened.
Charles Nixon worked as collector for six years. Followed by F Oxford who worked there for 15 of his 45 years of duty. The government stopped using the building in 1976, after which it was repurposed for commercial use and restaurants. The Timaru Civic Trust bought the property in 2018.
The building made a statement
The office was built in the Neoclassical style, it has a symmetrical façade with fluted Doric columns and an arched entrance portico. It includes classical elements such as entablatures, pediments, pilasters, acroterion and antefixae. Its square footprint is topped with a gabled roof, hidden behind a parapet. An iron fence sweeps around the corner and the building. The chimneys have been removed and a flagpole was added.
Its position by Strathallan Street, Stafford Street and Cains Terrace, the rail and port, gives it a prominent presence and allows it to be viewed from multiple angles.
On its opening, the Timaru Herald described it as: "A building which, for convenience in design and first-class execution is equal to the very best government building in the colony. The most commanding view, as it should be, is from the harbour."
Customs officers of the time dealt with all kinds of trade. It was illegal to land or load goods anywhere except authorised legal quays, under strict supervision.
Officers monitored everything from alcohol and tobacco to opium, transistor radios, and even risqué books. Today they focus on methamphetamine, terrorism, objectionable material, fraud and money laundering. They now operate from 21 Ritchie Street.
Duties were introduced to New Zealand just one month before the Treaty of Waitangi, and were overseen by the British Treasury.
By the 1970s, customs operations had been centralised and modernised, and the building was no longer in use. In 2018, the Timaru Civic Trust purchased the site to preserve it as a piece of the city’s heritage.
Today, the Timaru Custom House remains a rare and well-preserved example of early twentieth-century civic architecture and continues to hold pride of place in the story of the town.
People, places and names that impacted timaru
Stafford Street is named after Edward William Stafford (1819–1901) was one of New Zealand’s most important early political leaders. He served as Premier of New Zealand three times between 1856 and 1872 and was also Colonial Secretary, holding significant influence over how government authority was extended across the country. He played a major role in bringing central government to outposts like Timaru, appointed Woollcombe as Government Agent in 1857.
Cains Terrace, takes its name from Captain Henry Cain (1816–1886), one of Timaru’s first European settlers who came to run a store for Henry Le Cren. He was the town’s second mayor (1870 to 1873) when the towns population was 3000 and rebuilding the Great 1868 Fire that destroyed three quarters of the Central Business District. His wife Jane, turned the first sod for the Christchurch - Timaru Railway as mayoress 1871. Cain was allegedly poisoned by his son in law. His statue is outside the Timaru Landing Services Building.
Strathallan Street was named after the first immigrant ship to sail direct from England in 1858 arriving in Timaru with 110 passengers including 30 children under 10 years old in 1859.
Wealth was unevenly distributed in England. Bread, potatoes and dried peas were the diet of the working class person and a loaf of bread cost half a worker’s wage. So they moved to New Zealand in the hope of a better life. One lady wrote in her diary, if Timaru was a quarter of the size of London she would be happy. When she arrived there were only five houses in sight!
How Ancient Leaves Became Features of Timaru’s Architecture?
Let’s begin in the Middle Ages, a 900-year period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance, from around 500 to 1500 AD. During this time, architecture shifted from the grand, classical style of ancient Rome to more practical, fortified, and religious buildings with thick stone walls, rounded arches, small windows and towers, known as Romanesque. Later, French Gothic architecture spread across Europe and became the dominant style for cathedrals by the late 1400s.
In 1414, a set of ten ancient books titled De Architectura (On Architecture) was rediscovered in a Swiss monastery. Written around 100 BCE by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman military engineer, architect, and theorist under Emperor Augustus, these texts are the earliest known works on architecture.
Vitruvius wrote them as a handbook for Roman architects. His ideas played an important role in reviving Greek and Roman design principles during the Renaissance, and went on to influence both classical and modern architecture.
Vitruvius believed that the human body had divine, balanced proportions, and that buildings should reflect the same harmony. This idea inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man, created around 1490, and influenced many other artists, including Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
Vitruvius also told the story behind the Corinthian style. According to him, a Greek architect and sculptor named Callimachus, who is credited with inventing the Corinthian order, saw acanthus leaves growing around a basket placed on the grave of a young girl. A roof tile had been set on top, and as the plant grew, the leaves curled outward. This inspired the design of the Corinthian column, which is recognised for its curly acanthus leaves and elegant, decorative form. It became the most ornate of all Greek columns.
The name "Corinthian" comes from the city of Corinth in Greece, located on the narrow isthmus between mainland Greece and the Peloponnese. Destroyed in 146 BC and later rebuilt as a Roman colony in 44 BC, Corinth became a thriving centre of trade, culture, and politics. Its association with wealth and beauty helped the Corinthian style spread and influence architecture for centuries.
Much of this classical knowledge was lost or forgotten during the Middle Ages. However, it was revived during the Renaissance, between 1400 and 1600, when artists and architects rediscovered ancient texts and ruins.
In 1762, during the Georgian era of architecture, British architects James Stuart and Nicholas Revett published their book The Antiquities of Athens in London. At the time, King George III was on the throne. Their work, based on studies of ancient ruins in Greece, featured detailed illustrations of classical buildings. It helped spark a wave of Neoclassical architecture across Britain, Europe, and beyond. The acanthus leaf soon appeared in buildings, furniture, and art around the world.
Greek architects created the first three of five classical orders: Doric, Ionic, Corinthian. The Romans later added two more: Tuscan, a simpler version of the Doric order, with unfluted columns and a plain capital. Composite, a more elaborate style that combines the volutes of the Ionic with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian.
According to Vitruvius, temple design must follow the same principles of symmetry and proportion found in the human body. Since temples were built to last, he insisted that their design reflect nature’s balance and harmony, ensuring both structural integrity and divine beauty. The Greeks considered 10 a perfect number due to finger counting, while mathematicians saw 6 as perfect for its divisibility.
Both Greeks and Romans made use of the Acanthus mollis in the form of garlands, with which they adorned their buildings, their furniture, and even their clothing.
The origin of the Corinthian order, engraving (Paris: J.-B. Coignard, 1684), illustrated in Claude Perrault's Vitruvius, 2nd ed. (1684).
Custom House and the neighbourhood in 1874
