Southampton Post Office
57-58 High Street
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Architect
Henry Tanner (?1908 extension, architect Henry Nicholas Hawks; ?1916 extension, architect Albert Robert Myers) Year 1894 Listed building status Grade II Archive sources British Postal Museum and Archive POST 91/1678, 2164 (?1908 extension), 118/635 (photograph) National Archives WORK 13/289 (?1908 extension), 651 (?1916 extension), 69/6 (photograph) Selected bibliographical references Builder 2 Jul 1892, p. 19 Building News 7 Apr 1893, p. 469 (illustration); 23 Nov 1894, p. 734-735 Hampshire Advertiser 9 Nov 1892, p. 3 (foundation stone laid); 12 April 1893, p. 2; 17 Nov 1894, 8; 8 Dec 1894, p. 8 History Opened: 10 Dec 1894 Closed: 1990s This building replaced the former post office, a converted bank building, first occupied in 1859 Current use: Upper floors residential accommodation, ground floor unoccupied (Apr 2012) |
Building description
From: Hampshire Advertiser 17 November 1894, p. 8
The handsome new Post Office erected by Her Majesty's Office of Works in the lower part of the High-street, Southampton, partly on the site of the building which for many years so inefficiently served for the postal work of the port, town, and district, is rapidly approaching completion, and will probably be taken full possession of by the Post Office Department in the early part of next month. Southampton, the first mail packet station of the United Kingdom, will thus have removed from it the reproach of having a post office which, in its internal accommodation, so far at least as the public were concerned, would have been a discredit to any town of very inferior importance, while externally, as an architectural feature of the main street, it was simply an eyesore. For the great improvement of which we are about to receive the full advantage the town perhaps is most indebted to Mr. E. E. Carter, the energetic postmaster, who had no sooner set foot in Southampton than he commenced to find out the weak points in local post office administration, and very soon discovered that no real improvement could be made unless the old and ugly office in the High-street was improved out of existence. Mr. Carter is an official of between thirty and forty years' experience, in the course of which he has had to do with the building of new post offices at Bristol and in other important towns of the kingdom, and the knowledge be thus gained proved invaluable in the consideration of the preliminaries which have resulted in the handsome elevation which is now so great an ornament to our High-street. The first step taken was to approach the owners of the properties adjoining the old building, and in the end the premises formerly occupied by Mr. J. Blount Thomas were acquired of Mr. G. P. Perkins, and the whole site was cleared. A design was prepared by Mr. Henry Farmer [sic, i.e. - Tanner], F.R.I.B.A.. of Her Majesty's Office of Works, and approved, and a contract placed, the first stone being laid by Mr. James Lemon, C.E., the then Mayor of the Borough, on the 5th November 1892. Delays occurred which need not be referred to farther than to say that they necessitated the taking over of the works in February last by the Office of Works, who have since successfully carried on the undertaking to, practically, completion. By the courtesy of Mr. Carter, one of our representatives was conducted by him over the new building this week, and at the risk of repeating some details published by us in our report of the stone-laying ceremony two years ago we think that a description of the new building will be of interest to our readers. The front elevation is in the French Renaissance style, and is of best Fareham bricks and terra cotta, the latter material being almost entirely if not wholly used in the rich ornamentation which give such effect to the design. This ornamentation includes the Imperial crown, the Royal initials, and very appropriately the Southampton borough arms, while underneath the first floor windows is a large panel conveying the hardly needed information that the place is the "Post Office." The public entrance is on the north side, leading through a commodious vestibule, through a door on the right, to the public office, which is 34 1/2 by 25 1/2 feet, and has a height of 15 feet. A counter runs across the entire width, and the two spaces thus created are laid in front with Silex — a manufactured stone — and behind with herring-board oak blocks. In the south-western corner is a small hatchway in the wall through which messages will be passed to the telegraph operator who will occupy a conveniently fitted office on the south side, under the window of which will be placed the public recieving [sic] boxes, which are thus relatively in the same position that they were in the old building. The outer office is dadoed with glazed bricks pannelled [sic] in design in colours, and the whole office is heated by hot water pipes and open fire places. The main staircase is of Silex stone with iron balusters and mahogany rail, and ascending by this we find the first floor is divided into two rooms — that on the south, occupying a third of the space, being appropriated as the office of the Postmaster. It is 18 by 19 feet, and 13 feet high. The larger room on the north, 27 by 18 feet, will be occupied by the Chief Clerk and the immediate staff of the Postmaster. The floors are herring-boned in pitch-pine blocks, and the walls will be distempered, in the one case in sage green and in the other in French grey. There are speaking tube connections from both these offices with the various departments on the ground floor. Each room is fitted with the Yates-Haywood patent ventilating grates, which warm the fresh air before it is admitted. In the corridor at the rear is a lift which runs from the basement to the top floor. On the second floor the north room, 17 by 18 feet, is fitted up as a store for stationery, including the thousand and one forms which are used in the various departments of the Post Office. The middle-chamber — 10 feet by 18 — it is contemplated to use as a sitting and meal room for the clerks, and the north room, 17 1/2 by 18 feet, will be occupied by Mr. Cropper, assistant surveyor of the Board of Works, who is responsible for the material condition of the Government buildings in Southampton, including, of course, the Post Office itself. The rooms on this floor have a uniform height of twelve feet. The upper floor is occupied by the caretakers' apartments, comprising a suite of comfortable living and bedrooms, with scullery. One of the living rooms is fitted with an Eagle range. There are well-appointed lavatories, &c, on each floor. At the back of the public office and telegraph operators' room on the ground floor is the sorting room, which is a very fine apartment, being about 191 feet long with an average width of 44 feet, and a height from the floor — laid throughout in herring-boned oak blocks on concrete — to the apex of the roof to 21 feet. This roof is composed of two ordinary gables, with lantern lights, and the whole place is ventilated by Kershaw's pneumatic extractors, assisted by Tobin inlets in the side walls about six feet from the floor. Practically the whole of the old sorting room has been demolished, all that remains of it being a small length of the north wall and a section of the roofing. In this large room there is accommodation for about 160 employees, but of course the whole of these are not on duty at the same time. About two thirds of the space — the west end — is allotted for letter-sorting, the receipt and despatch of inland and foreign mails, and for the local postmen for arranging their several deliveries. The east end is given over to the parcels-post department which is to be carried on here entirely, the office in Oxford-street being left for telegraph work until the contemplated erection of a new office on another site ... becomes an accomplished fact. At the extreme east end are large doors opening on to a commodious covered platform, forming part of a yard which has an entrance from the Back-of-the-Walls, and here the mail waggons, &c, will load and unload … On the south side of this department is a space, 30 feet by 12 feet, appropriated to Customs' examination work, and here all the parcels received from France or the Channel Islands are handled by Customs officers, and dutable articles charged, the amount of duty levied being marked on the outside, and received by the postman when the parcel is delivered. One cannot but be struck in passing through this sorting-room with the quiet and methodical way in which the important work there is carried on, and gives the spectator in some measure an idea of the system and discipline which are at the bottom of the supreme success which attends the office delivery work of the country … Over the east end of the sorting-room are rooms for the clerks and postmen, with conveniences for cooking, each man having a locker, of which he keeps the key ; and a bag-room, in which the mail- bags are arranged for foreign and inland routes. In the basement are stores for parcels, baskets, fuel, &c., and the hot water apparatus, which effectually warms the whole building. It is a notable feature, and says much for the efficiency of the large staff of which Mr. Carter is the head that, notwithstanding all the inconvenience and noise of the reconstruction of the Post Office, the work of the sorting-room has been continued without a break, and that there has been no serious complaint from the outside of the manner in which that work has been accomplished a fact which speaks volumes when the vast and intricate details of the work leading up to such a result are considered. The whole of the office throughout is lit by gas, though one would have expected to find the electric light in such a large public department, and where safety and temperature are of great importance. The gas fittings are by Defries and Co., of London. The hot water apparatus is by Mr. Shalders, of the High-street; the plumbing, which is a special feature of the building, and greatly exceeds in certain details the requirements of the local authority, is by Mr. Stutchbury, of Southampton. The wood blocks, of which some thousands have been used, were supplied by Mr. Lowe, of Farnworth, near Bolton; the joiner's work in the carcass of the building was executed by Mr. Elliott, of Newbury, and the rest by Messrs. Playfair and Toole of Southampton. The terra-cotta, mainly, is from Doulton's, of Lambeth; the facing bricks were sup- plied by Mr. Plummer, of Fareham; and the rest by Mr. Sydney Nichols, of Southampton. Mr. James Atkinson, of H.M. Office of Works, has been clerk of the works throughout, and has discharged his important duty most efficiently, though he had some exceptional difficulties to contend with ...
From: Hampshire Advertiser 17 November 1894, p. 8
The handsome new Post Office erected by Her Majesty's Office of Works in the lower part of the High-street, Southampton, partly on the site of the building which for many years so inefficiently served for the postal work of the port, town, and district, is rapidly approaching completion, and will probably be taken full possession of by the Post Office Department in the early part of next month. Southampton, the first mail packet station of the United Kingdom, will thus have removed from it the reproach of having a post office which, in its internal accommodation, so far at least as the public were concerned, would have been a discredit to any town of very inferior importance, while externally, as an architectural feature of the main street, it was simply an eyesore. For the great improvement of which we are about to receive the full advantage the town perhaps is most indebted to Mr. E. E. Carter, the energetic postmaster, who had no sooner set foot in Southampton than he commenced to find out the weak points in local post office administration, and very soon discovered that no real improvement could be made unless the old and ugly office in the High-street was improved out of existence. Mr. Carter is an official of between thirty and forty years' experience, in the course of which he has had to do with the building of new post offices at Bristol and in other important towns of the kingdom, and the knowledge be thus gained proved invaluable in the consideration of the preliminaries which have resulted in the handsome elevation which is now so great an ornament to our High-street. The first step taken was to approach the owners of the properties adjoining the old building, and in the end the premises formerly occupied by Mr. J. Blount Thomas were acquired of Mr. G. P. Perkins, and the whole site was cleared. A design was prepared by Mr. Henry Farmer [sic, i.e. - Tanner], F.R.I.B.A.. of Her Majesty's Office of Works, and approved, and a contract placed, the first stone being laid by Mr. James Lemon, C.E., the then Mayor of the Borough, on the 5th November 1892. Delays occurred which need not be referred to farther than to say that they necessitated the taking over of the works in February last by the Office of Works, who have since successfully carried on the undertaking to, practically, completion. By the courtesy of Mr. Carter, one of our representatives was conducted by him over the new building this week, and at the risk of repeating some details published by us in our report of the stone-laying ceremony two years ago we think that a description of the new building will be of interest to our readers. The front elevation is in the French Renaissance style, and is of best Fareham bricks and terra cotta, the latter material being almost entirely if not wholly used in the rich ornamentation which give such effect to the design. This ornamentation includes the Imperial crown, the Royal initials, and very appropriately the Southampton borough arms, while underneath the first floor windows is a large panel conveying the hardly needed information that the place is the "Post Office." The public entrance is on the north side, leading through a commodious vestibule, through a door on the right, to the public office, which is 34 1/2 by 25 1/2 feet, and has a height of 15 feet. A counter runs across the entire width, and the two spaces thus created are laid in front with Silex — a manufactured stone — and behind with herring-board oak blocks. In the south-western corner is a small hatchway in the wall through which messages will be passed to the telegraph operator who will occupy a conveniently fitted office on the south side, under the window of which will be placed the public recieving [sic] boxes, which are thus relatively in the same position that they were in the old building. The outer office is dadoed with glazed bricks pannelled [sic] in design in colours, and the whole office is heated by hot water pipes and open fire places. The main staircase is of Silex stone with iron balusters and mahogany rail, and ascending by this we find the first floor is divided into two rooms — that on the south, occupying a third of the space, being appropriated as the office of the Postmaster. It is 18 by 19 feet, and 13 feet high. The larger room on the north, 27 by 18 feet, will be occupied by the Chief Clerk and the immediate staff of the Postmaster. The floors are herring-boned in pitch-pine blocks, and the walls will be distempered, in the one case in sage green and in the other in French grey. There are speaking tube connections from both these offices with the various departments on the ground floor. Each room is fitted with the Yates-Haywood patent ventilating grates, which warm the fresh air before it is admitted. In the corridor at the rear is a lift which runs from the basement to the top floor. On the second floor the north room, 17 by 18 feet, is fitted up as a store for stationery, including the thousand and one forms which are used in the various departments of the Post Office. The middle-chamber — 10 feet by 18 — it is contemplated to use as a sitting and meal room for the clerks, and the north room, 17 1/2 by 18 feet, will be occupied by Mr. Cropper, assistant surveyor of the Board of Works, who is responsible for the material condition of the Government buildings in Southampton, including, of course, the Post Office itself. The rooms on this floor have a uniform height of twelve feet. The upper floor is occupied by the caretakers' apartments, comprising a suite of comfortable living and bedrooms, with scullery. One of the living rooms is fitted with an Eagle range. There are well-appointed lavatories, &c, on each floor. At the back of the public office and telegraph operators' room on the ground floor is the sorting room, which is a very fine apartment, being about 191 feet long with an average width of 44 feet, and a height from the floor — laid throughout in herring-boned oak blocks on concrete — to the apex of the roof to 21 feet. This roof is composed of two ordinary gables, with lantern lights, and the whole place is ventilated by Kershaw's pneumatic extractors, assisted by Tobin inlets in the side walls about six feet from the floor. Practically the whole of the old sorting room has been demolished, all that remains of it being a small length of the north wall and a section of the roofing. In this large room there is accommodation for about 160 employees, but of course the whole of these are not on duty at the same time. About two thirds of the space — the west end — is allotted for letter-sorting, the receipt and despatch of inland and foreign mails, and for the local postmen for arranging their several deliveries. The east end is given over to the parcels-post department which is to be carried on here entirely, the office in Oxford-street being left for telegraph work until the contemplated erection of a new office on another site ... becomes an accomplished fact. At the extreme east end are large doors opening on to a commodious covered platform, forming part of a yard which has an entrance from the Back-of-the-Walls, and here the mail waggons, &c, will load and unload … On the south side of this department is a space, 30 feet by 12 feet, appropriated to Customs' examination work, and here all the parcels received from France or the Channel Islands are handled by Customs officers, and dutable articles charged, the amount of duty levied being marked on the outside, and received by the postman when the parcel is delivered. One cannot but be struck in passing through this sorting-room with the quiet and methodical way in which the important work there is carried on, and gives the spectator in some measure an idea of the system and discipline which are at the bottom of the supreme success which attends the office delivery work of the country … Over the east end of the sorting-room are rooms for the clerks and postmen, with conveniences for cooking, each man having a locker, of which he keeps the key ; and a bag-room, in which the mail- bags are arranged for foreign and inland routes. In the basement are stores for parcels, baskets, fuel, &c., and the hot water apparatus, which effectually warms the whole building. It is a notable feature, and says much for the efficiency of the large staff of which Mr. Carter is the head that, notwithstanding all the inconvenience and noise of the reconstruction of the Post Office, the work of the sorting-room has been continued without a break, and that there has been no serious complaint from the outside of the manner in which that work has been accomplished a fact which speaks volumes when the vast and intricate details of the work leading up to such a result are considered. The whole of the office throughout is lit by gas, though one would have expected to find the electric light in such a large public department, and where safety and temperature are of great importance. The gas fittings are by Defries and Co., of London. The hot water apparatus is by Mr. Shalders, of the High-street; the plumbing, which is a special feature of the building, and greatly exceeds in certain details the requirements of the local authority, is by Mr. Stutchbury, of Southampton. The wood blocks, of which some thousands have been used, were supplied by Mr. Lowe, of Farnworth, near Bolton; the joiner's work in the carcass of the building was executed by Mr. Elliott, of Newbury, and the rest by Messrs. Playfair and Toole of Southampton. The terra-cotta, mainly, is from Doulton's, of Lambeth; the facing bricks were sup- plied by Mr. Plummer, of Fareham; and the rest by Mr. Sydney Nichols, of Southampton. Mr. James Atkinson, of H.M. Office of Works, has been clerk of the works throughout, and has discharged his important duty most efficiently, though he had some exceptional difficulties to contend with ...
