Buckingham Post Office

BUCKINGHAM POST OFFICE

5 Market Hill

Architect: Frederick Llewellyn
Year: 1939
Selected bibliographical references
Buckingham Advertiser 29 Jul 1939, p. 5 (illustrated)
Mercury and Herald (Northampton) 28 Jul 1939, p. 20
History
Opened: 27 Jul 1939
Closed
Current use: Royal Mail Delivery Office

Building description
From: Buckingham Advertiser 29 July 1939, p. 5

A new chapter in the postal history of Buckingham and the surrounding neighbourhood was begun on Thursday when Major J. P. Whiteley, M.P. for North Bucks, performed the official opening of the new Buckingham Post Office ... The Post Office, fronting on to High Street, is a two storey block with a central entrance giving access to the telephone lobby and the public office, where the Postmaster's accommodation is also provided. Working accommodation and female staff rooms occupy the upper floor. The building is set back some 20 feet from the pavement and the forecourt thus formed is laid out with paved paths and grass plots. A posting box and a pair of vending machines are set into the front wall and a telephone kiosk has been placed in the forecourt. To be in harmony with the architectural amenities of Buckingham the building has been in a simple but dignified Georgian manner, the lower storey having a granite base. stone doorway and brick semi-circular windows, while the upper-storey has a range of flat arched windows. Hand made sand faced bricks in quiet tones of brown and grey are used for the walling which is capped with a stone cornice and a pitched roof with Lombardic tiles of a colour to tone with the brickwork. The windows are mild steel casement sashes set in wood frames. On the east side, double and single wrought iron gates hung to brick piers complete the frontage. The floors of the telephone lobby and the public offices are paved with terrazzo tiles with a border and skirting of a contrasting colour. The walls are lined with limed oak to height of about 8ft. and the counter front is formed in similar material, while the upper walls and ceiling are painted with a light cream colour. The heating of the public office is by means of ceiling panels which form part of the architectural treatment; elsewhere the internal decoration is carried out in a scheme of cream and green. The sorting office adjoins the back of the Post Office block to which it has direct communication. It is a one storey building with male staff rooms, boys' rooms and store room ranged along the sides and a loading platform at the end facing a spacious yard in which the mail vans entering by the double gate from the High Street will have ample space for manoeuvring. The lighting of the sorting office is principally by means of a large centrally placed roof light running the whole length of the apartment, but in addition there are clerestory windows in the walls of either side. As in the public office the heating is by means of ceiling panels and the heating chamber for the whole scheme is in a basement under the level of the male staff rooms ... A small building for the accommodation of hand carts, cycles and and stores is also provided in the yard and a space is set aside for a future garage and workshop and in planning the buildings and arranging them on the site careful consideration has been given to the possibility of future extension. The architect responsible for the design of the scheme is Mr. F.A. Llewellyn, O.B.E., H.M. Office of Works ...