BRISTOL POST OFFICE (1868)
Small Street
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Architect: James Williams (1889 extension, architect Edward Rivers) (1909 extension, architect John Rutherford)
Year: 1868 Archive sources British Postal Museum & Archive: POST 30/642; 91/1295-1305; 118/822 (photograph) National Archives: WORK 13/309; 30/6193-6194 Selected bibliographical references Bristol Mercury and Western Counties Advertiser 18 Jan 1868, p. 7 Building 15 Oct 1993, p. 68-69 Building News 8 Nov 1889, p. 647; 31 Jan 1890, p. 164 + illustration; 28 May 1909, p. 790 Saturday Bristol Times and Mirror 21 Mar 1868, p. 8 Tombs, R.C. The Bristol Royal Mail ... Bristol : Arrowsmith, 1899. Western Daily Press 25 Mar 1868, p. 3; 30 May 1888, p. 3 (illustration); 20 Apr 1889, p. 3 25 Apr 1889, p. 5; 28 Sep 1889, p. 5; 4 Nov 1889, p. 7 (illustration); 5 Nov 1889, p. 5; 6 Nov 1889, p. 3 (letter); 7 Nov 1889, p. 3 (letter) History Opened: 25 Mar 1868 Closed: 1980s Current use: Crown Court behind renovation and replication of facade (Source: Building 15 Oct 1993, p. 68-69 |
Building description
From: Bristol Times and Mirror 21 March 1868, p. 8
On Wednesday next, we understand, our new Postal Palace in Small Street, will be opened for the transaction of business; and certainly a fairer or more fitting edifice for the purpose could not be produced. Simple, elegant, commodious, bearing on its face evident proof of adaptability to the uses for which it has been raised. It is one of the few recent public buildings in Bristol that can be condidered a real success. The very expression which involuntarily occurs to parties, as they view it, characteristic of the design - "there is no nonsense about it." While a credit to the city from an architectural point of view, it has a common-sense, business-like air suggestive of convenience and suitability to the object for which it was constructed. For devotional edifices we may choose the picturesque outlines and quaint, fanciful details of the Gothic; but for a civil building, in which public work has to be done, and space and light to be considered, we think what is known as the Italian or Palladian style has vindicated its superior advantages in our new Post-office. It is another of the monuments - the milestones, we may call them - that mark local progress. It is a curious coincidence that, after a century and a score years, the Bristol "House of Letters" should have come back almost to the same spot on which it then stood. "Colston House" has seen many changes of fortune, and is destined soon to see more, but it is not generally known that the antique premises in which the Daily Times and Mirror is now published, and which confront the new building under notice, were at one time, namely, in 1748, the head Post-office, which must have occupied a humbler tenement; for there was in existence so recently as in the late William Tyson's day, a document bearing date 1700, in the form of an agreement for leasing a piece of land, "with liberty to build upon the same for the conveniency of a Post Office". One condition in this agreement was characteristic, and as a mark whereby to contrast the original with the newly-erected office, curious and almost amusing. It expressly stated that the building was to have a second storey extended, "a truss of eighteen inches over the lane, for the purpose of shielding the persons coming to the Post-office from the rain." We order things differently now; but even the eighteen inches of rudely devised shelter were something to be thankful for when umbrellas were almost an unknown invention. Where this primitive Post-office, with its projecting story [sic] stood, we cannot positively say, but we should think in one of the numerous lanes which then occupied the site of the present Exchange. There must have been a still earlier local edifice for letters; for mention is made of a place having been set apart for the purpose as far back as 1670. From Colston House, the Post-office was removed to the premises which it has occupied on the south-east side of Cora-street, but from which it will migrate next week, never again to return to so unpretending a dwelling ...
From: Bristol Times and Mirror 21 March 1868, p. 8
On Wednesday next, we understand, our new Postal Palace in Small Street, will be opened for the transaction of business; and certainly a fairer or more fitting edifice for the purpose could not be produced. Simple, elegant, commodious, bearing on its face evident proof of adaptability to the uses for which it has been raised. It is one of the few recent public buildings in Bristol that can be condidered a real success. The very expression which involuntarily occurs to parties, as they view it, characteristic of the design - "there is no nonsense about it." While a credit to the city from an architectural point of view, it has a common-sense, business-like air suggestive of convenience and suitability to the object for which it was constructed. For devotional edifices we may choose the picturesque outlines and quaint, fanciful details of the Gothic; but for a civil building, in which public work has to be done, and space and light to be considered, we think what is known as the Italian or Palladian style has vindicated its superior advantages in our new Post-office. It is another of the monuments - the milestones, we may call them - that mark local progress. It is a curious coincidence that, after a century and a score years, the Bristol "House of Letters" should have come back almost to the same spot on which it then stood. "Colston House" has seen many changes of fortune, and is destined soon to see more, but it is not generally known that the antique premises in which the Daily Times and Mirror is now published, and which confront the new building under notice, were at one time, namely, in 1748, the head Post-office, which must have occupied a humbler tenement; for there was in existence so recently as in the late William Tyson's day, a document bearing date 1700, in the form of an agreement for leasing a piece of land, "with liberty to build upon the same for the conveniency of a Post Office". One condition in this agreement was characteristic, and as a mark whereby to contrast the original with the newly-erected office, curious and almost amusing. It expressly stated that the building was to have a second storey extended, "a truss of eighteen inches over the lane, for the purpose of shielding the persons coming to the Post-office from the rain." We order things differently now; but even the eighteen inches of rudely devised shelter were something to be thankful for when umbrellas were almost an unknown invention. Where this primitive Post-office, with its projecting story [sic] stood, we cannot positively say, but we should think in one of the numerous lanes which then occupied the site of the present Exchange. There must have been a still earlier local edifice for letters; for mention is made of a place having been set apart for the purpose as far back as 1670. From Colston House, the Post-office was removed to the premises which it has occupied on the south-east side of Cora-street, but from which it will migrate next week, never again to return to so unpretending a dwelling ...
From: Western Daily Mail 25 March 1868, p. 3
The new Post Office, which was commenced in Small Street on the 18th February, 1867, will to-day be occupied by the officials of the old establishment, and in full working order, every effort having been made to have it ready by the time specified. The front of the building is 70ft. by 60ft., and the depth 130 feet. It is plain, but chaste, possessing sufficient ornateness to make it light and agreeable to the eye. There are three stories, the first floor above being intended as offices for the Inland Revenue Department, and the upper one for the surveyor of taxes. They will have a separate entrance at the left of the building, the basement floor being entirely confined to the Post Office officials. In the front of the building four granite steps lead to a lobby, where there are three windows, the centre one being marked, "General Letter Box," and on the left, "Extra Stamp Letter Box," and on the right, "Newspapers and Book Packets." On the left hand is the door leading to the postage stamp office, and on the right the money order office, Post Office Savings' Bank, registered letters, warrants, &c. The doors are of solid mahogany, beautifully worked,with plate glass windows in the upper panels. They are protected by revolving shutters, which work with the greatest ease and freedom. The doors and windows are lofty and wide. The entablature is supported by two Portland stone columns, with richly moulded caps and bases, and fluted shafts, in the Grecian Doric style. At the top of the lobby are suspended two ornamental lamps for lighting it at night. The windows in the front have richly moulded jambs and very nice dentil cornices, with grooved trusses. There is a moulded sillcourse, and the whole is surmounted by a very heavy block cornice, finished with an open balustrading at the top. A large clock is intended to be placed over the centre window, which will not only be useful to the public outside, but will have a dial in the sorting-room, with machinery for working two others in the adjacent rooms. Entering the room to the left we find ourselves in tbe postage stamp office, which is 23 feet 2 inches long, 16 feet wide, and 18 feet high. It is massively panelled to a height of about four feet, and the panels are grained and varnished, the oak graining of the dado and entrance doors being of a superior description. The counters, desks, and tables are of mahogany, and fitted with everything to facilitate the work. The private letter box and inquiry office is separated from this room by a wooden partition, and is about 15 or 16 feet, the entrance being at the left side of the building, and the door being also protected by revolving shutters. The private letter boxes are of an improved construction, by a London maker, the figures being inscribed in gold, and possessing a revolving shutter which forms the back of the frame when open, and when the mails are being sorted the back part of the frame is open to the sorting room, the letters by this means being placed in their proper places with very little trouble. The room at the right of the lobby is 38 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 18 feet high. The counters and desks are of mahogany, but the latter are inlaid with the best morocco. There are three desks, each having an inscription on the outside indicating what business is transacted, one being "Money Orders and Savings Bank Warrants paid here," another "Post Office Orders issued," and the last for Savings' Bank deposits and Life Assurance Annuities. This office and the postage stamp office have very beautifully worked marble granite — St. Ann's marble—chimney pieces. These rooms lead by private doors into the central room, where the principal work of the Post Office is done. It runs the whole length of the building, from the lobby where the letters are posted to the back entrance. It is lofty and spacious, and lighted from the top as well as the sides. That end of the room where the letters are received through the apertures is called " the Outward Department," and here is a large table of blocks of Pennant stone, covered with india rubber, immediately under the window, to be used by the "stampers" for stamping the letters, which are transferred to the "sorters," who arrange them for the different mails. The frame at which they sit is divided into twelve compartments, six on each side, and the compartments are separated by nicely-finished open brasswork. Each compartment is fitted with three shelves, having revolving rods with three sides, and labels on them bearing the names of different towns, thus enabling the clerk to use his compartment for three mails instead of one. The letters are then placed in the mail-bags and sent away. The "Inward Department" is the centre of the building, and the mail-bags are brought in at the back entrance, their contents emptied on a large table in the middle of the room, and passed on to the stampers, for whom a long stone table, covered with india rubber, is provided. They are then sorted and divided into districts. On each side of tbe room are two long oak tables, having accommodation for thirty-two letter-carriers. The seats are fastened beneath the table, and can be turned out or in, just as required; and in a shelf over the table is a zinc slide, with places for two ink-bottles-one for red, the other for black, and on each side a groove for pen and pencil. The inspector's desk is nearly in the middle of the room, so that he can have an eye upon everything going on, and on the left is the superintendent's desk. Round the room are frames for newspapers and letters, with the names of places affixed. There is a contrivance for heating by gas the wax used in sealing the mail bags, and everything that could be devised for the despatch of business seems to have been introduced. The room is heated by two stoves, one at each end. The postmaster's room and the chief clerk's room are on either side of a lobby at the back entrance, and are fitted with lavatories, &c. Accommodation is provided for a resident porter, and underneath the sorting room are the letter carriers' waiting room and the clerks' waiting room which are comfortably furnished. Mr James Williams, of Her Majesty's Board of Works, was the architect, and Mr James Diment, of St. James's Square, in this city, the builder The work reflects the greatest credit on Mr Diment, and has given the utmost satisfaction to the Post Office authorities, Mr Elmes was the clerk and Mr Gay the foreman of the works; and Mr Basto superintended the joinering department. Mr Willway, of St. Augustine's Place, fitted up the gas, and Mr Stevens, of Park Street, supplied the furnishing.
The new Post Office, which was commenced in Small Street on the 18th February, 1867, will to-day be occupied by the officials of the old establishment, and in full working order, every effort having been made to have it ready by the time specified. The front of the building is 70ft. by 60ft., and the depth 130 feet. It is plain, but chaste, possessing sufficient ornateness to make it light and agreeable to the eye. There are three stories, the first floor above being intended as offices for the Inland Revenue Department, and the upper one for the surveyor of taxes. They will have a separate entrance at the left of the building, the basement floor being entirely confined to the Post Office officials. In the front of the building four granite steps lead to a lobby, where there are three windows, the centre one being marked, "General Letter Box," and on the left, "Extra Stamp Letter Box," and on the right, "Newspapers and Book Packets." On the left hand is the door leading to the postage stamp office, and on the right the money order office, Post Office Savings' Bank, registered letters, warrants, &c. The doors are of solid mahogany, beautifully worked,with plate glass windows in the upper panels. They are protected by revolving shutters, which work with the greatest ease and freedom. The doors and windows are lofty and wide. The entablature is supported by two Portland stone columns, with richly moulded caps and bases, and fluted shafts, in the Grecian Doric style. At the top of the lobby are suspended two ornamental lamps for lighting it at night. The windows in the front have richly moulded jambs and very nice dentil cornices, with grooved trusses. There is a moulded sillcourse, and the whole is surmounted by a very heavy block cornice, finished with an open balustrading at the top. A large clock is intended to be placed over the centre window, which will not only be useful to the public outside, but will have a dial in the sorting-room, with machinery for working two others in the adjacent rooms. Entering the room to the left we find ourselves in tbe postage stamp office, which is 23 feet 2 inches long, 16 feet wide, and 18 feet high. It is massively panelled to a height of about four feet, and the panels are grained and varnished, the oak graining of the dado and entrance doors being of a superior description. The counters, desks, and tables are of mahogany, and fitted with everything to facilitate the work. The private letter box and inquiry office is separated from this room by a wooden partition, and is about 15 or 16 feet, the entrance being at the left side of the building, and the door being also protected by revolving shutters. The private letter boxes are of an improved construction, by a London maker, the figures being inscribed in gold, and possessing a revolving shutter which forms the back of the frame when open, and when the mails are being sorted the back part of the frame is open to the sorting room, the letters by this means being placed in their proper places with very little trouble. The room at the right of the lobby is 38 feet long, 16 feet wide, and 18 feet high. The counters and desks are of mahogany, but the latter are inlaid with the best morocco. There are three desks, each having an inscription on the outside indicating what business is transacted, one being "Money Orders and Savings Bank Warrants paid here," another "Post Office Orders issued," and the last for Savings' Bank deposits and Life Assurance Annuities. This office and the postage stamp office have very beautifully worked marble granite — St. Ann's marble—chimney pieces. These rooms lead by private doors into the central room, where the principal work of the Post Office is done. It runs the whole length of the building, from the lobby where the letters are posted to the back entrance. It is lofty and spacious, and lighted from the top as well as the sides. That end of the room where the letters are received through the apertures is called " the Outward Department," and here is a large table of blocks of Pennant stone, covered with india rubber, immediately under the window, to be used by the "stampers" for stamping the letters, which are transferred to the "sorters," who arrange them for the different mails. The frame at which they sit is divided into twelve compartments, six on each side, and the compartments are separated by nicely-finished open brasswork. Each compartment is fitted with three shelves, having revolving rods with three sides, and labels on them bearing the names of different towns, thus enabling the clerk to use his compartment for three mails instead of one. The letters are then placed in the mail-bags and sent away. The "Inward Department" is the centre of the building, and the mail-bags are brought in at the back entrance, their contents emptied on a large table in the middle of the room, and passed on to the stampers, for whom a long stone table, covered with india rubber, is provided. They are then sorted and divided into districts. On each side of tbe room are two long oak tables, having accommodation for thirty-two letter-carriers. The seats are fastened beneath the table, and can be turned out or in, just as required; and in a shelf over the table is a zinc slide, with places for two ink-bottles-one for red, the other for black, and on each side a groove for pen and pencil. The inspector's desk is nearly in the middle of the room, so that he can have an eye upon everything going on, and on the left is the superintendent's desk. Round the room are frames for newspapers and letters, with the names of places affixed. There is a contrivance for heating by gas the wax used in sealing the mail bags, and everything that could be devised for the despatch of business seems to have been introduced. The room is heated by two stoves, one at each end. The postmaster's room and the chief clerk's room are on either side of a lobby at the back entrance, and are fitted with lavatories, &c. Accommodation is provided for a resident porter, and underneath the sorting room are the letter carriers' waiting room and the clerks' waiting room which are comfortably furnished. Mr James Williams, of Her Majesty's Board of Works, was the architect, and Mr James Diment, of St. James's Square, in this city, the builder The work reflects the greatest credit on Mr Diment, and has given the utmost satisfaction to the Post Office authorities, Mr Elmes was the clerk and Mr Gay the foreman of the works; and Mr Basto superintended the joinering department. Mr Willway, of St. Augustine's Place, fitted up the gas, and Mr Stevens, of Park Street, supplied the furnishing.
