MAIDSTONE POST OFFICE AND TELEPHONE EXCHANGE (1928)
1 King Street
Photographs © Julian Osley
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Architect: David Dyke Year: 1928 Archive sources British Postal Museum and Archive: Maidstone Portfolio File; POST 91/2096-2097, 2104, 2724 National Archives: WORK 13/940 Selected bibliographical references Architect & Building News 17 Aug 1928, p. 215 Architects' Journal 6 Jan 1926, p. 67-68 (illustration, plan) Brick Builder Mar 1931, p. 38 History Opened: 25 Apr 1928 Closed Current use: Awaiting re-occupation (2014) |
Building description
From: Souvenir programme of the opening of the building
From: Souvenir programme of the opening of the building
For some years it has been recognised that removal of
the Head Office from 58, King Street was imperative in consequence of the
growing needs of the town and district. The new King Street building stands on a site of an
area of 13,220 square feet acquired from the Corporation. It is on the
London-Dover main road, and has on its western side the new Wyke Manor Road, which
leads into Church Street. Accommodation is provided for all postal and telegraph
purposes, engineering staff and equipment, and also for an automatic telephone
exchange, which will later, although not immediately take the place of the
existing manual exchange, for the present housed separately in Earl Street. The front of the building is faced with two-inch
hand-made Wrotham bricks, sand-faced and multi-coloured, with bright orange
dressings. The plinth, entrance doorways and copings are of Portland Stone. The
carved figure repeated over the doorway represents the winged Mercury, the
postman of the Gods; and over the letter-box is the Caduceus, the staff of
office which he carried on his rounds. The roof is covered with plain red, hand-made tiles.
The outside walls at the back are of hollow construction, formed of four-inch
concrete slabs with steel stanchions. The building throughout is of
fire-resisting materials, and is centrally heated by one large tubular boiler
in the basement. On the ground floor in front is the public office, 67 feet
long, with two entrances. The new counter is equipped with fittings of the very
latest type. Telegrams will be conveyed by pneumatic tube direct to the instrument
room on another floor. At the rear is a spacious sorting office, 89 feet by 64
feet, for the despatch of mails and the preparation of deliveries by postmen … The stamping of letters is performed by two
electrically-driven stamping machines, each capable of impressing 600 letters a
minute. On the first floor are the administrative offices, telegraph
instrument and phonogram rooms, and a room with an area of 2,660 square feet
for automatic telephony. On the floor above is a manual switch room, 1670 feet
square, which, even under the forthcoming automatic system, will still, of
course, be required for trunk calls. Welfare accommodation, i.e. kitchens, dining-rooms and
cloak rooms, has been liberally provided for all classes of the staff employed. At the rear of the sorting office are two large yards
entered from the new road – one for postal motors and bicycles, and the other
for the engineering staff, their stores and motors. In the interests of economy, the design of the building
has been keep as simple as possible, and depends for its architectural effects
upon the proportion of the voids and solids, together with the pleasing texture
and colour of the brick and tile work.
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