Introduction
The purpose-built British post office building has by and large been neglected by architectural historians. This neglect has been compounded by historians of the Post Office who have concentrated on chronicling its administrative functions, making only passing reference to its premises. Yet it is these very buildings, representing the public face of the Post Office, which have played an immeasurable role in the lives of our communities.
In the last few years, however, some attention has been paid to the history and fate of the post office building. This has been driven by changes of policy. Since 2000 Post Office Ltd has been operating at a loss, and, in order to reverse this decline, a "Network Change Programme " has been implemented, resulting in the closure of over 2,500 post offices, both urban and rural, with the services being offered in a number of alternative retail outlets such as stationers (the principal beneficiary being W.H. Smith), and supermarkets. In many cases, although the post office has closed, the Royal Mail has retained the sorting and delivery office functions.
Although over the years post offices have closed with some regularity, it was the closure of over 70 urban post offices that was the catalyst for some serious study of these buildings, instigated initially by English Heritage. In 2008 Jonathan Clarke's Purpose-built post offices: a rapid assessment and suggestions for future work indicated a measure of concern with regard to the proper documentation and fate of these buildings. Following on from this study English Heritage commissioned Alan Baxter & Associates to conduct a documentary survey of extant urban post office buildings. The resulting report Post offices of England 1840-1910 was completed in August 2010. In the meantime the British Postal Museum and Archive published in November 2010 Julian Osley's introductory survey Design for service: post office architecture: this is the first book to be written devoted solely to post office buildings. Another recent contribution has been Robert Hradsky's study of the Victorian and Edwardian post office building The Stamp of official architecture: English post offices published in Brandwood, G. ed. Living, leisure and law : eight building types in England 1800-1914 (Spire Books, 2010). As a further contribution this website offers an illustrated survey of the British post office building together with the names of the architects, as well as archive sources, selected bibliographical references, links to additional images, and details of the current use of those buildings no longer in post office use.
Although this guide primarily focusses on that the part of the postal service visited by the public, the architecture of the separate purpose-built sorting office deserves consideration, and examples of such buildings are included.
Historically the Post Office was not responsible for the design and construction of its own buildings. Until the arrangements for procurement changed in the 1980s it was the architects working within the Office of Works (1851-1940), the Ministry of Works and Buildings (1940-1942), the Ministry of Works and Planning (1942-1943), the Ministry of Works (1943-1962), the Ministry of Public Building and Works (1962-1970), and the Property Services Agency (1972-1993) who carried out this work. Because these architects were civil servants often very little is known about them - their buildings were occasionally published in the architectural press, although some of the attributions were credited to the chief architect of the ministerial department rather than to individuals. However thanks to surviving archive documentation, we have some idea who these architects were. The output of architects like William Thomas Oldrieve (who worked extensively in both England and Scotland) and David Dyke (in the inter-war years) was prolific, while important contributions were made by Henry Tanner, Walter Pott, John Rutherford and Charles Wilkinson in the years leading up to World War I, and later by Archibald Bulloch, Henry Seccombe, Albert Myers, Frederick Llewellyn and Thomas Winterburn. As government employees, these architects also prepared designs for building types other than post offices, among them telephone exchanges, telephone repeater stations and labour exchanges.
Archive sources
For the historian the fact that the design of the buildings was the responsibility of the Office of Works and its successors is of some advantage, in that a fair proportion of the documentation (in the form of drawings, bills of quantities and contracts) has been deposited in the National Archives, (WORK 13 and 30), although coverage of the early years of the Office of Works' involvement is poor, and there are no records relating to the post-war period.
WORK 69/5 and 69/6 are books of photographs illustrating post office, sorting office and court buildings around Great Britain presumably designed within the Office of Works. Some of the photographs have been removed: of those remaining there are a few instances where the name of the architect responsible for the building has been recorded.
Some drawings have also found their way to the British Postal Museum and Archive (POST CLASS 91), where also may be found photographs (the Portfolio files are a particularly rich source), and extensive administrative files relating the the Post Office's involvement in the fitting-out of premises designed by the aforementioned government departments.
Listed buildings
Although concern has been expressed that post offices (particularly those of the inter-war years) are inadequately represented on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, many of the late Victorian and early Edwardian period have been designated Grade II listed buildings. The descriptions accompanying the listings, while not always strictly accurate and often difficult to understand by the layman without a thorough knowledge of architectural terminology, provide much useful information.
Notes and conventions
It is not always possible to establish the opening and/or closing dates of the featured post offices entirely accurately. The preference is to record the year of opening, or the year when they are first listed in the annual Post Office Guide: failing that the year(s) of construction. Where neither the year of construction nor opening have not yet been established, then a probable year has been suggested, prefaced by circa (c.), e.g. c.1933, or a possible year, prefaced by a single or several question marks, e.g. ?1934, depending on the level of uncertainty. In some cases the annotation [KS] is appended to a date of opening or closure - this indicates that the information is derived from Ken Smith's county-by-county listings of post offices. The annotation [POC] is appended to precise dates of opening or closure when the information has been derived from Post Office Circulars. Both Ken Smith's listings and the Post Office Circulars are available for consultation in the Search Room of the British Postal Museum and Archive.
Text that appears in this colour is hyperlinked, either to other pages on the site, or, more importantly, to external sources of information or a to a further selection of images of the building.
Comments and suggestions for improvement are most welcome. Please email them to jelm6@yahoo.co.uk.
In the last few years, however, some attention has been paid to the history and fate of the post office building. This has been driven by changes of policy. Since 2000 Post Office Ltd has been operating at a loss, and, in order to reverse this decline, a "Network Change Programme " has been implemented, resulting in the closure of over 2,500 post offices, both urban and rural, with the services being offered in a number of alternative retail outlets such as stationers (the principal beneficiary being W.H. Smith), and supermarkets. In many cases, although the post office has closed, the Royal Mail has retained the sorting and delivery office functions.
Although over the years post offices have closed with some regularity, it was the closure of over 70 urban post offices that was the catalyst for some serious study of these buildings, instigated initially by English Heritage. In 2008 Jonathan Clarke's Purpose-built post offices: a rapid assessment and suggestions for future work indicated a measure of concern with regard to the proper documentation and fate of these buildings. Following on from this study English Heritage commissioned Alan Baxter & Associates to conduct a documentary survey of extant urban post office buildings. The resulting report Post offices of England 1840-1910 was completed in August 2010. In the meantime the British Postal Museum and Archive published in November 2010 Julian Osley's introductory survey Design for service: post office architecture: this is the first book to be written devoted solely to post office buildings. Another recent contribution has been Robert Hradsky's study of the Victorian and Edwardian post office building The Stamp of official architecture: English post offices published in Brandwood, G. ed. Living, leisure and law : eight building types in England 1800-1914 (Spire Books, 2010). As a further contribution this website offers an illustrated survey of the British post office building together with the names of the architects, as well as archive sources, selected bibliographical references, links to additional images, and details of the current use of those buildings no longer in post office use.
Although this guide primarily focusses on that the part of the postal service visited by the public, the architecture of the separate purpose-built sorting office deserves consideration, and examples of such buildings are included.
Historically the Post Office was not responsible for the design and construction of its own buildings. Until the arrangements for procurement changed in the 1980s it was the architects working within the Office of Works (1851-1940), the Ministry of Works and Buildings (1940-1942), the Ministry of Works and Planning (1942-1943), the Ministry of Works (1943-1962), the Ministry of Public Building and Works (1962-1970), and the Property Services Agency (1972-1993) who carried out this work. Because these architects were civil servants often very little is known about them - their buildings were occasionally published in the architectural press, although some of the attributions were credited to the chief architect of the ministerial department rather than to individuals. However thanks to surviving archive documentation, we have some idea who these architects were. The output of architects like William Thomas Oldrieve (who worked extensively in both England and Scotland) and David Dyke (in the inter-war years) was prolific, while important contributions were made by Henry Tanner, Walter Pott, John Rutherford and Charles Wilkinson in the years leading up to World War I, and later by Archibald Bulloch, Henry Seccombe, Albert Myers, Frederick Llewellyn and Thomas Winterburn. As government employees, these architects also prepared designs for building types other than post offices, among them telephone exchanges, telephone repeater stations and labour exchanges.
Archive sources
For the historian the fact that the design of the buildings was the responsibility of the Office of Works and its successors is of some advantage, in that a fair proportion of the documentation (in the form of drawings, bills of quantities and contracts) has been deposited in the National Archives, (WORK 13 and 30), although coverage of the early years of the Office of Works' involvement is poor, and there are no records relating to the post-war period.
WORK 69/5 and 69/6 are books of photographs illustrating post office, sorting office and court buildings around Great Britain presumably designed within the Office of Works. Some of the photographs have been removed: of those remaining there are a few instances where the name of the architect responsible for the building has been recorded.
Some drawings have also found their way to the British Postal Museum and Archive (POST CLASS 91), where also may be found photographs (the Portfolio files are a particularly rich source), and extensive administrative files relating the the Post Office's involvement in the fitting-out of premises designed by the aforementioned government departments.
Listed buildings
Although concern has been expressed that post offices (particularly those of the inter-war years) are inadequately represented on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, many of the late Victorian and early Edwardian period have been designated Grade II listed buildings. The descriptions accompanying the listings, while not always strictly accurate and often difficult to understand by the layman without a thorough knowledge of architectural terminology, provide much useful information.
Notes and conventions
It is not always possible to establish the opening and/or closing dates of the featured post offices entirely accurately. The preference is to record the year of opening, or the year when they are first listed in the annual Post Office Guide: failing that the year(s) of construction. Where neither the year of construction nor opening have not yet been established, then a probable year has been suggested, prefaced by circa (c.), e.g. c.1933, or a possible year, prefaced by a single or several question marks, e.g. ?1934, depending on the level of uncertainty. In some cases the annotation [KS] is appended to a date of opening or closure - this indicates that the information is derived from Ken Smith's county-by-county listings of post offices. The annotation [POC] is appended to precise dates of opening or closure when the information has been derived from Post Office Circulars. Both Ken Smith's listings and the Post Office Circulars are available for consultation in the Search Room of the British Postal Museum and Archive.
Text that appears in this colour is hyperlinked, either to other pages on the site, or, more importantly, to external sources of information or a to a further selection of images of the building.
Comments and suggestions for improvement are most welcome. Please email them to jelm6@yahoo.co.uk.
Sources of illustrations and acknowledgements
Many of the illustrations have been sourced from contributions uploaded by member photographers of http://www.geograph.co.uk, http://www.flickr.com and www.panoramio.com and published under a Creative Commons licence or with permission; other illustrations are scans of out-of-copyright postcards. All images, apart from scanned postcards and those images attributed to Julian Osley, are hyperlinked back to their source. This project would not have been possible without the co-operation and advice from photographers A. Murray (piquero), Alan Robertson, Alexander Kapp, Allan Murray-Rust, Allen Watkin, Andrew Head, Andrew Hill, Andrew Reynolds, Andrew Riley, Andy Arnold, Andy Cooke, Anthony Vosper, bazzadarambler (Barry), Beatrix Underwood, Ben Gamble, Ben Sutherland, Betty Longbottom, Bill Nicholls, Bob Embleton, Bob Harbey, Brian Clift, Brian Gittings, Bryan Jones, Budby, Carol Howard, Caroline Derry, Chris Downer, Chris Pittock, Chris Smith, Chris Talbot, Colin Baker, Colin Craig, Craig Mollekin, Craig Thornber Crewe Archive, Dannie Calder, Dave Bevis, Dave Fergusson, Dave Walker, David Anstiss, David Ayres, David Dixon, David Greenhalgh, David Hillas, David Long, Derek Tait, David Wright, Dean Hammersley, Derek Bennett, Derek Harper, Des Blenkinsopp, Don Cload, Ell Brown, Elijah13, emdjt42, Evelyn Simak, Felix P. Ormerod, Gerald England, Gerald Massey, Gethin Thomas, Gordon Cragg, Gordon Griffiths, Graham Horn, Humphrey Bolton, Ian Capper, Isis Bridge, Jamie Barras, Jim Bain, Joe Neary, John Firth, John A. King, John FitzGerald, John Grayson, John Lord, Jonathan Kington, Jonathan Thacker, Jonathan Makepeace, Julian Guffogg, Kate&Drew, Keith Edkins, Keith Evans, Keith Williams, Kenneth Allen, Kevin Lane, Kim Traynor, Kokai, Lancastrian, Lee McComish, Lloyd Rich, Lyndon Wigmore, M. J. Richardson, Malcolm Jones, Malcolm Maybury, Marek Drewicz, Marion Phillips, Mark (kpmarek), Mark Wheaver, Matthew Eyre, Matthew Sylvester, Matthew Wells, Meirion, Michael Brace, Michael Trolove, Michael Taylor, Mick (Southessexmale), Mick French, Mike Duke, Mike Faherty, Mike Hedgethorne, Mike Peckett, Mike Smith, Ned Trifle, Neil Clifton, Newcastle City Libraries, Nick Macneill, Nigel Chadwick, Nigel Cox, Oast House Archive, Oliver Dixon, P. L. Chadwick, Patricia Tutt RIBA, Paul Clarke, Paul Farmer, Paul Sproat, Paul Wright, Peter Barr, Peter Herring, Phil Draper, Phil Young, Philip Halling, Philip Mayer, Picture the Past (http://www.picturethepast.org.uk), Pierre Terre, Preston Digital Archive, Project Rushden, redrickshaw (Sally), Rich Tea, Richard Law, Richard Slessor, Richard Webb, Robert Cutts, Robert Wade, Robin Drayton, Robin Hall, Roger A. Smith, Roger Smith, Rory Barnwatch, Rose and Trev Clough, Rowan Crawshaw, Roy Hughes, Royal Commission on the Ancient and historiocal Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Sarah Hartwell, Sarah Smith, Shaun Taylor, Shazz (Geograph contributor), Southern Driver, Stanley Howe, Stanley Walker, Stephen Dowle, Stephen Richards, Stephen Sweeney, Stephen Williams, Steve Cadman, Steve Poole, Steve Thoroughgood, Stockton Borough Library Service, tatraskoda, Thomas Nugent, TiggerSnapper, Tim Green, Tim Heaton, Tim Jenkinson, Tom Sargent, Voice of Hassocks, W.F. Millar and Wycombe Boy. Special thanks are also due to Douglas Black for confirming the architect of Bromley Post Office, to Darryl Moody of Swindon Central Library for searching out and providing images of Swindon post offices, to Andy Foster for providing images and valuable information about Brierley Hill and Old Hill post offices, to Dave Bevis for help in locating post office in Derbyshire and adjacent counties, to Maureen Newton for providing the date of Hucknall post office, to Dave Clarke of Malpas for providing images and other assistance with regard to post office buildings in the Cheshire/Shropshire area and beyond, to Lewis Wood for providing information about Banstead Post Office, and last but not least, Edmund Bird who has so willingly shared the results of his own extensive research.
