HALIFAX POST OFFICE
Commercial Street
 Photograph © Tim Green via Flickr |
Architect: Henry Tanner Year: 1887 (1923 extension and Telephone Exchange, architect Charles Wilkinson) Listed building status: Grade II Archive sources National Archives: WORK 13/858; 30/3073-3079 Selected bibliographical references Leeds Times 19 Mar 1887, p. 5 History Opened: 23 Sep 1887 Closed: 7 Sep 2016 Building description From: Leeds Times 19 March 1887, p. 5 Halifax has achieved what Leeds has not accomplished. The inhabitants have got a new Post Office erected, at a cost of £10,000, from designs by Mr. H. Tanner, architect to the Government Board of Works. The plans have been carried out satisfactorily by Messrs. Armitage and Hodgson, Leeds, and the new place will shortly be opened for business. It is a great improvement on the old and dingy premises in George-street. The new Post Office is built of stone, in the Early English style, and the site in Commercial-street is as central and convenient as the structure is handsome and appropriate. The facade is 108 feet in length, and there are three gables, the projection of the central part relieving the building of monotony, while graceful columns at the angles, a fleche tower in the centre, and a campanile tower on the north, impart a pleasing picturesqueness of outline. The Halifax postal district covers a large area, the commercial importance of which is great and growing, and there was a necessity for making ample provision for present and prospective requirements. This idea has been subordinated in the internal arrangements, and utility and general aptitude for the quick despatch of business have had careful attention. In each of the departments the latest and most approved plans have been adopted. Halifax may be congratulated on this useful acquisition to its postal service. |