The original Treasury Chambers, housing the Government Treasury, Post Office, Savings Bank and Bonded Warehouse was destroyed by fire on Friday 25 June 1932. The cornerstone of the present building on the site of the original building was laid on the 9 March 1936 by the then Governor and commander in chief of the colony, Sir Claud Hills. The building was officially completed and commissioned in 1938. During the period 1938-1964 the premises were shared with the General Post Office. When the Post Office was relocated to Wrightson Road, the premises were occupied by the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. In 1986 the Central Bank moved into its new offices in the Eric Williams Financial Complex and the entire building was used for the exclusive use of the Treasury Division, Ministry of Finance.

Trinidad and Tobago’s great twentieth century architect, Anthony C Lewis, describes his initiation into architecture when in 1938 he worked with the company building the new Treasury spending his mornings: “…. watching the reinforced concrete work and foundations to the vaults” and later when he commissioned as an architect for the renovations: “… in 1962 I was to be the architect for the renovations of the ground floor, after the Post Office had been removed to Wrightson Road, for the establishment of the original Central Bank of  Trinidad and Tobago, in which project one of the main structural alterations was to increase the wall, floor and roof construction of the same vaults I had watched being constructed”.

A fine example of Art Deco architecture, the building continues to be a landmark for both locals and foreigners. By 1831 when Governor Sir Lewis Grant took office, the Governor’s offices were in the Treasury Building, on the north-western corner of King Street and St Vincent Street, while the Governor continued to live in the Botanic Gardens.

Slavery was brought to an end in the British West Indies with the Emancipation Bill of 1833. In Trinidad, the Emancipation Proclamation was read on August 1838 at the Treasury Building site.

Address: Treasury Street and Independence Square North

Town/City: Port of Spain

Region: Port of Spain

Site Type: Cultural Heritage

Ownership: Public

Public Accessibility: Limited Access

Cultural Community:

Site Features: Public Buildings