History

Post Office of 1906, replacing a former building on the site which was destroyed by fire in 1904. The building was purposely designed as a Post Office, and originally housed the local telephone exchange on the 1st floor. Shown in its current form on the Ordnance Survey of 1912.

Exterior

Three-window 2-storey block on a high plinth; red brick front with stone dressings; rendered return elevations with mainly brick dressings; hipped tiled roof. Near-symmetrical main elevation of 3 principal bays and canted angles, each with distinctive oriel window beneath the overhang of the eaves. Principal bays each have a timber-framed gable. The central gable is slightly advanced, forming an oriel window over the entrance, the bressumer supported on brackets. Gables have pointed-eded quatrefoils in lozenges, billeted bressumers and moulded barge-boards. Other detail to front includes moulded brick string courses to plinth and 1st floor. Central stone doorway with shallow basket-arched head, above which is a 2-pane overlight, the lights with arched heads. To R of entrance, a 3-light transomed window; to L of entrance, a pair of single lights. These have brick relieving arches, attached to which are modern fascias reading 'Post Office'. The canted angles each have a single light. The upper storey has cross-windows to L and R, projecting through the eaves; to centre the timber-framed oriel window has a large stepped 4-light casement with wrap-around sidelights; panelling with pierced decoration, mainly quatrefoils. Canted angles have square wooden oriel windows, immediately beneath the eaves, supported by cusped arched brackets and with pendant finials; the windows have 2 panes above the transoms and are plain-glazed below.

The sides and rear are rendered and whitewashed, the plinth becoming a basement storey to the W, where the ground falls away. Detail includes brick quoins and brick and sandstone string courses between storeys; brick reveals and sandstone lintels to mullioned and transomed wooden windows. The W side has asymmetrical fenestration, the ground floor well-lit with tall 2- and 3-light windows and single lights. The 1st floor has a shallow 3-light window and an irregular 4-light window; the basement has 3 openings boarded over. The E side is of brick to lower storey, rendered above. There were 3 stone cross-windows to ground floor, that to centre has lost part of its mullion, that to R converted to a doorway. Single-storey bay with parapets to R, containing a widened doorway. The upper storey has 3 single segmental-headed lights in a red brick panel, towards the centre and immediately under the eaves. The rear faces the graveyard and is 2-gable, that to L set back behind the single-storey flat-roofed bay; there are 2 brick stacks towards the rear, a corner stack to L of R-hand gable end and a ridge stack near L gable end. The rear has wooden cross-windows under segmental brick heads; the R-hand gable end has 1 to ground and 2 to 1st floor; similar window to L to flat-roofed bay.

Interior

Interior not inspected.

Reasons for Listing

Listed as a rare example of a purpose-built Edwardian post-office retaining its character and much of its original detail, closing the N end of St Peter's Square. Group value with listed buildings and monuments in St Peter's Square.

External Links

• Cadwr Listing
• Wikidata Q29507890

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  The Shredded Chef: 120 Recipes for Building Muscle, Getting Lean, and Staying Healthy
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  County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
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  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
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  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
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  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings