Old Customs House

The Old Customs House in Kiponda is a three-story coral rag building distinguished by its deeply recessed arched windows and a heavy, carved wooden door that has survived since the late nineteenth century. Built to manage the flow of goods through Zanzibar’s bustling harbor, this structure served as the gatekeeper for the Sultanate’s wealth. In the eighteen nineties, it became the office of the British consul, where officials famously negotiated the fate of the slave trade while the ships arrived and departed below.