Before the inauguration of Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge in 1974, ferries were the only means by which residents living in the islands could travel and transport supplies. A pier is an infrastructure where ferries and other vessels moor, pick up and drop off passengers and goods. The former Taipa Pier was one of the transport infrastructure projects in the islands conducted in the mid-20th century, and is an important structure built by the Portuguese Government of Macao to improve the public transportation system of the islands.
As early as in the late-19th century before the operation of the ferry services between the Macao Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane Islands, a rustic trestle bend wharf had been built along the coast of the Pai Kok area in Taipa for ferries travelling between the island and neighbouring regions. However, as the siltation of the waters near the wharf worsened, the ferries could only moor offshore and wait for sampans to transfer the passengers and goods, which caused great inconvenience. After the 1940s, the Portuguese Government of Macao decided to open up the islands by fostering the local development of light industries, such as firecracker production and tourism, and therefore reinforced the construction of the transportation network and municipal infrastructure, such as building the road between the old district and the Taipa Fortress, a new trestle bend wharf, and water conservancy facilities.
The Taipa Pier was inaugurated in 1950, and in the same year a franchise system was implemented for the passenger ferry services between the Macao Peninsula, Taipa and Coloane. The pier then became a wharf for passenger ferries travelling on the Macao-Taipa and Taipa-Coloane routes, which included those operated by Kong-San Company Limited, Macao-Taipa-Coloane Passenger Ferry Service Limited, and Macao-Islands Passenger Transport Company Limited. The ferry services saw a gradual decline after the inauguration of Estrada do Istmo in 1968 and the Governor Nobre de Carvalho Bridge in 1974. When the passenger ferry services were discontinued in the early 1980s, the Taipa Pier has since been used as the patrol station office of the islands under Macao Customs Service.
The Taipa Pier is a composite structure built of stone and concrete. The façade features a symmetrical design with columns used as divisions and a room on each side and the structure is in the shape of an inverted T. The extended part is a portico that connects to a trestle bridge. On the front and rear elevations are inscriptions that read ‘Taipa Pier’ in Portuguese. The parapets are decorated with house-shaped merlons, which are of a similar architectural style to that of Pier No.1 on the Macao Peninsula.