OXFORD POST OFFICE (1842)
St Aldate's
Oxford Town Hall : engraving by John Le Keux (1835)
|
Architect: Thomas Wyatt
Year: 1842 Selected bibliographical references Oxford University and City and County Herald 24 Dec 1842, p. 3 History The post office was built according to designs within a section of the ground floor arcade of the Town Hall. Closed: ?c.1880 Demolished |
Building description
From: Oxford University and City and County Herald 24 Dec 1842, p. 3
The new office recently erected underneath the Town Hall is now finished, and will be opened for the accommodation of the public on Monday next. A brief description of it will no doubt be interesting to our readers. The new office is situated in the southern end of the Town Hall, and occupies the space of two arches of the arcade upon which the Town Hall rests: it is divided into four parts, — first, the general office, occupying the circular end of the building, in which the boxes for the various towns corresponding with Oxford are arranged ; a strong dwarf partition encloses a space for the letter carriers and for the sorting of the letters ; a large circular-headed window, filling the whole of one of the arches of the arcade, lights this office, and beneath it are the two boxes for the reception of letters — the one for general use, the other for letters that may be " too late." The second part of the office is the public lobby, which is entered from the second arch in the front of the Town Hall. On entering the lobby, a large window on the right communicates with the general office, and from sliding doors in this window the deliveries are made, money orders paid and granted, and letters with which money is paid received. A window fronting, on entering the lobby, lights the third portion, namely, the money order office, but which, as we understand, cannot be used at present, there being yet no clerk appropriated this important and growing branch of public business. A small and secure room for private business behind the money order office, and lighted from the Town Hall-yard, forms the fourth portion of the office. The office altogether is probably complete as any in the kingdo m, and the general arrangement reflects great credit upon Mr. T. Wyatt, the city surveyor, the late Mayor, and the Post Office Committee, who devoted time and attention the matter. The work has been done Messrs. Adams and Jones, and is throughout a capital specimen good and finished workmanship. The whole has been completed at a cost to the city of 300l, for which a rental of 40l. a-year will he paid.
From: Oxford University and City and County Herald 24 Dec 1842, p. 3
The new office recently erected underneath the Town Hall is now finished, and will be opened for the accommodation of the public on Monday next. A brief description of it will no doubt be interesting to our readers. The new office is situated in the southern end of the Town Hall, and occupies the space of two arches of the arcade upon which the Town Hall rests: it is divided into four parts, — first, the general office, occupying the circular end of the building, in which the boxes for the various towns corresponding with Oxford are arranged ; a strong dwarf partition encloses a space for the letter carriers and for the sorting of the letters ; a large circular-headed window, filling the whole of one of the arches of the arcade, lights this office, and beneath it are the two boxes for the reception of letters — the one for general use, the other for letters that may be " too late." The second part of the office is the public lobby, which is entered from the second arch in the front of the Town Hall. On entering the lobby, a large window on the right communicates with the general office, and from sliding doors in this window the deliveries are made, money orders paid and granted, and letters with which money is paid received. A window fronting, on entering the lobby, lights the third portion, namely, the money order office, but which, as we understand, cannot be used at present, there being yet no clerk appropriated this important and growing branch of public business. A small and secure room for private business behind the money order office, and lighted from the Town Hall-yard, forms the fourth portion of the office. The office altogether is probably complete as any in the kingdo m, and the general arrangement reflects great credit upon Mr. T. Wyatt, the city surveyor, the late Mayor, and the Post Office Committee, who devoted time and attention the matter. The work has been done Messrs. Adams and Jones, and is throughout a capital specimen good and finished workmanship. The whole has been completed at a cost to the city of 300l, for which a rental of 40l. a-year will he paid.
