The South Perth Angelo Street Licensed Post Office is located at 59 Angelo Street, and provides a full range of services, with post office boxes available as well as passport business and Instant Passport Photos. It is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, closed Saturday and Sunday.
From 1923 post office services in this part of South Perth were provided at a receiving office in the Hayden Samuel shop which was on the south-east corner of Forrest and Angelo Streets. The Angelo St Post Office replaced this service, when it opened on the 10 July 1939.
When it first began its operations, the Angelo St Post Office had living quarters as staff were required at all hours (for the receipt of telegrams etc). Living standards provided in the post office became unsatisfactory over the years and when staff were no longer required in the building at all hours, the space was dedicated to other purposes.
In the 1930s post offices had to reflect community growth and needs. Between 1926 and 1955, the design and construction of post offices was undertaken by the Commonwealth Department of Works for the Postmaster General, however very few post offices were built in the 1930s owing to the effects of the Depression. Angelo Street Post Office is therefore a rarity.
The telephone exchange was built at a later date.
The Angelo Street Post Office is situated in the retail/commercial strip near the intersection of Coode St. It has
a telephone exchange adjoining to the east. A number of places of heritage significance are in the vicinity and
this Post Office is an important component of the locality. The building, by its somewhat forbidding
appearance has the capacity to imbue the streetscape with a level of harshness and bareness not conducive to
pedestrian comfort.
The two-storey Angelo St Post Office is built of reinforced concrete with a red and chocolate coloured pressed
brick patterned façade. The building has a hipped Marseilles pattern terracotta tiled roof set behind a parapet.
The main face of the building is red brick set one course behind the plinth. The main face is framed with
chocolate coloured bricks set back one course with a herringbone pattern and soldier brick frieze. The plinth
to dado height is rusticated with unbonded header bricks. These are carried around the reveal linings of the
doors and are recessed in three steps. The openings are protected by wrought iron grilles, which are notable
for their design. The building has been designed in the Inter-War Stripped Classical style evidenced by the
symmetrical facdes, the vertical classical entablature and base, the simple surfaces and the subdued spandrels
between storeys to emphasise verticality.
In the centre of the main façade is a precast, pressed cement panel containing six windows. The panel is
decorated with vertical fluting. The entrance porch has green terrazzo tiled paving, and stamp dispensers,
which are of some significance.
The condition of the Post Office is good. Many changes to the function of post offices are evident, but this
building is generally unchanged. Internally the postal hall has been faced with new fabric. However, it is
thought that this may conceal most of the original fabric, which may still be intact. The integrity of the
building has not been compromised by the installation of post boxes as have so many other post office
buildings in WA. The integrity is therefore qualified as good, while the integrity of the façade, particularly the
entrance recess, is high.
An interesting feature is the two separate Post Office Box alcoves, one at the entrance under the 'Post' sign, the other at a matching position to the right. In a photo from an earlier date (the fifth in the gallery) the gated alcove appears to have doors, so these Post Office Boxes were obviously installed at a later date. The style of two cars in that photo indicate it was probably taken in the 1960s or 1970s, and the Post Office Boxes were installed after that.