The Connaught Building

The Connaught Building rises above the ByWard Market with a heavy, sand-colored limestone facade and a series of massive copper-topped towers. Built between nineteen thirteen and nineteen fifteen, it served as a customs house to process goods arriving by rail. David Ewart designed the structure to project the strength of the federal government during a period of rapid national expansion. Customs officials once sat at desks in the high-ceilinged halls, tracking shipments that built the early economy of the nation's capital.