Head Post Office, Bath - New Bond Street - Bath, Somerset, UK - Grand Opening on Waymarking.com

A tablet commemorating the grand opening of the Bath Head Post Office by the Mayor, in 1927.

The plaque reads:
This Tablet
was erected
to
Commemorate
the
Opening
of the
Head Post Office
by
The Mayor of Bath
Alderman Cedric Chivers J P
Monday thge 16th May 1927

Cedric Chivers (d. 30 January 1929), Mayor of Bath 1922 & 1924–1928.

"Cedric Chivers patented hand oversewing in 1904. He emphasized its efficiency and pointed out that technicians could do the work previously entrusted only to trained binders. Chivers opened operations in Bath, England and New York City, and by 1908 his American operation had served up to five hundred libraries in the United States. He was a skilled salesman, but historians suggest Chivers was overly focused on financial gain to the disregard of standards and specifications like the Committee on Leather for Bookbinding.

In 1920, W. Elmo Reavis, a bookbinder from Los Angeles, invented an oversewing machine, and began selling it to American libraries. The mechanization of the process Chivers patented led to oversewing - now mass-produced, assembly line work - becoming even more popular. By the 1930s, oversewing was part of standard library binding specifications."

SOURCE - (visit link)

"Building description
From: Western Daily Press 17 May 1927, p. 12

The building sets a new note in the artistry of its design, and the noble frontage is in pleasing sympathy with Bath's beautiful buildings. The interior fittings and decorations are exceedingly handsome and even ornate. The public office, in its pleasing scheme of decoration, is surely the most beautiful in the country, and gives the luxurious impression of the interior of a modern bank. The rooms are heated by the panel system, Bath being the first post office in the country be so equipped. The medium used for the fittings is bronze, while the writing tables are hygienic and very well designed for privacy. There is special telephone room with five silence cabinets and special rooms for the postmaster and superintendent. It is the last word in up-to-date appointments. Downstairs are the special strong rooms for the housing of the thousand and one documents necessary for the "General" to take into possession. Later the automatic telephone exchange will be housed in the new block, when the girls will give place to the "Robot' of mechanical energy and efficiency. There are staff rooms, departmental offices, and even lounge a for the ladies the Civil Service. A small point, but an important one, is the fact that an elaborate apparatus enables all the clocks in the building synchronised with Greenwich time. The building in Bath stone, and is a credit to the city, to the Government architect, and to the local contractors. The architect was Mr C. Bullough [sic], of the Office of Works."

SOURCE - (visit link)

What was opened/inaugurated?: Head Post Office Who was that opened/inaugurated it?: Alderman Cedric Chivers, Mayor of Bath Date of the opening/inauguration?: 5/16/1927 Website about the location: [Web Link] Website about the person: Not listed

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