Statement of Significance
The Adelaide General Post Office, built in 1867-1872 and extended in 1891-92, is significant as one of South Australia's most important public buildings. It has been associated with the delivery and development of postal services in Adelaide for more than a century, and with the establishment of telephone services in South Australia in the late nineteenth century. (Criterion A.4) (Australian Historic Themes 3.7.1 Establishing postal services; 3.7.2 Developing electric means of communication; 5.4 Working in offices; 8.10.4 Designing and building fine buildings)
The Adelaide General Post Office is important as a major public building erected in the Victorian Free Classical style. It features a grand postal chamber with a half-domed roof and peripheral clerestory lighting. A gallery at first floor level is supported on ornamental cast-iron trusses with matching cast iron balustrading. Constructed from Glen Osmond and Glen Ewin stone, and ornamented with Bath limestone, the building features a prominent clock tower, and is a significant streetscape item on the corner of King William and Franklin Streets. In conjunction with the Town Hall, it forms an important gateway feature at the edge of Victoria Square. (Criteria: D2 and E1)
The GPO has considerable social significance for Adelaide residents owing to the building's lengthy connection with postal services and is important to the community as a well-known landmark. (Criterion G1)
The Adelaide General Post Office is associated with several architects of note, including Edmund Wright, Edward John Woods, Edward Angus Hamilton and Robert George Thomas. (Criterion H.1).
Description
HISTORY:
The Adelaide post office has been located on this site since 1851. The present building, known as the Adelaide General Post Office, was constructed in 1867-72. It accommodated both a post office and a telegraph station, and was built largely to a design by the well-known South Australian architects Edmund Wright and Edward John Woods.
Woods and Wright's design was chosen from a competition that was held in 1865. They were subsequently asked to alter the scale of their design, and the final building was also influenced by two other architects, Edward Angus Hamilton and Robert George Thomas. Hamilton and Thomas had jointly submitted a design that came second in the competition - Hamilton later became a partner with Wright and Woods, and Thomas became Colonial Architect in January 1868. As Colonial Architect, Thomas made some radical modifications to the building design, including greatly reducing the proposed height of the tower.
A number of disputes with the architects and contractors arose during the construction of the building, and as a result a Select Committee made a formal inquiry, releasing a report in October 1867. The disputes were over the quality of the stone that was used and the cost of the building. The Colonial Architect was subsequently given the supervision of the building works.
In 1867 the construction workers on site included eighteen stone cutters, ten carpenters, four smiths and fifteen labourers. It became the most expensive building constructed by the government to that date. The foundation stone was laid on 1 November 1867 by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, and watched by thousands of citizens. There was further celebration four years later when the building was opened on 6 May 1872. The final cost of the project was 53 258 pounds.
In 1875 the clock, bells and dial facings were installed. During the intervening years, the dial openings had been infilled with black canvas and painted to represent the clock faces. The clock was made by JB Boyce of Whitechurch, London, at a cost of 410 pounds, and the bells were cast by John Taylor of Lough Keough. A total of five bells were installed, four to chime and one to strike the hour, and they corresponded with the bells of Great St Marys, Cambridge and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster.
In 1883 the first Adelaide central telephone exchange was opened, and a switchboard was installed in the northwest corner of the Chief Telegraph Office, on the first floor of the GPO building.
The GPO building was extended in 1891-92, when a new north wing was added on King William Street to accommodate the telegraph office. JJ Leahy was the successful tenderer, the work took a year to complete and cost 16 469 pounds. A new switchboard, which was made by the Western Electric Manufacturing Co. of Chicago, USA, was installed and opened in 1894.
After Federation in 1901, the administration of postal and telecommunication services passed from the States to the Commonwealth.
The construction of a grand GPO building as a symbol of colonial progress was the ambition of every colonial capital. Few other classes of buildings reflect colonial progress and settlement as effectively as those buildings that are associated with posts and telegraphs.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The Adelaide General Post Office is a two-storey building, finished in the Victorian Free Classical style. It is constructed of Glen Osmond and Glen Ewin stone, with Bath limestone used for the ornamentation. The section that was built in 1891 is constructed of Murray Bridge freestone backed with brickwork, and is blended with the 1872 building.
The building's ground storey features round arched openings and Tuscan order pilasters that support a frieze at first floor level, while the windows on the first floor have architraves and consoles supported on Corinthian order pilasters. The parapet decoration consists of a plain frieze surmounted by a dentillated and bracketed cornice with balustrade. The Victoria tower, which is a landmark at the north-western corner of King William and Franklin Streets, comprises four sections: the two-storey base, the belfry, clock-face and cupola.
Inside, the two entrances from King William Street and Victoria Square are arched with deeply coffered ceilings. The main postal chamber is ninety feet long by thirty-five feet wide, running the height of two storeys. The half-domed roof has peripheral clerestory lighting. A gallery at first floor level is supported on ornamental cast-iron trusses with matching cast iron balustrading.
As a whole, the GPO is a major feature of the streetscape in King William Street and, with the Town Hall opposite, provides an impressive twin towers vista from Victoria Square.
Condition and Integrity
The building is in good condition and its integrity is relatively high, although some updating has occurred to the interior. The ground floor of the postal chamber has altered little, although there have been some modifications to the openings and joinery. A lift has been introduced, as well as numerous other technological advances. The facades and chamber remain in good repair and cleaning of the clock tower took place during the late 1970s. There is no historic telegraph, telephone exchange or postal equipment remaining in the building. (June 2001)
Location
141 King William Street, Adelaide, north-western corner of King William and Franklin Streets.
Taken from: (
visit link)