Exchange House, Former Middlesbrough Head Post Office

Exchange House, Former Middlesbrough Head Post Office

A former Head Post Office built in 1878, designed by James Williams of the Office of Works in Baroque style. The building has undergone early-20th-century alterations and received a 1980s staircase extension. It was subsequently used as archives and was unoccupied in 2024.

The building is constructed in red brick and buff sandstone with slate roofs and timber windows. It follows a T-plan, comprising a front range of three storeys with a basement and mansard attic facing Exchange Square, and a narrower rear sorting office wing of two storeys extending to School Croft. A 1980s staircase extension is positioned on the right return of the front range.

The symmetrical south-west facing façade consists of four bays. The ground floor and basement are in stone, while the upper floors are in brick with stone dressings, divided by stone bands and topped with a heavy entablature.

The ground floor is rusticated over an ashlar basement with blocked openings. The staff entrance (left) and public entrance (right) occupy the end bays and are reached by four steps. Both feature original three-panel double doors with overlights, set in fluted coved surrounds beneath enriched bracketed cornice hoods decorated with Greek-key friezes and enriched soffits, against a fluted lintel-band. Between the entrances are two sash windows with moulded sills and surrounds topped by similar bracketed friezes, with panelled aprons below the sills.

The upper floors are constructed in Flemish bond brickwork, each containing four sash windows without glazing bars set in architraves. On the first floor, these windows are beneath bracketed pediments (segmental in the centre bays), with panelled friezes, balustraded aprons and a moulded sill string. The second-floor sill band is guilloche-moulded. The heavy cornice features brackets and guttae. Above the entablature sits a balustraded parapet with flagpole. The early-20th-century mansard roof incorporates corniced flat-roofed dormers with paired casements containing glazing bars. A circular metal conical-roofed ridge ventilator crowns the roof, with corniced stacks positioned at the right and on the left front slope. A seven-bay left extension is not considered of special interest. The plain 1980s staircase extension at the right is set back and considered in keeping with the building.

The south-east façade is blind, with darker brickwork to the early-20th-century mansard roof above a moulded cornice. The tall, narrow 1980s staircase extension obscures it at the right. Set further back to the right is the south-east façade of the two-storey original rear range (sorting office). This is of Flemish bond brick with four bays of tall ground-floor and shorter first-floor sash windows, all containing glazing bars, stone sills and shallow segmental rubbed-brick lintels. A covered former basement area stands in front. A projecting stair outshut with rendered façade is positioned to the right. The ridge carries two conical roof vents, with modern vents piercing the roof at the right.

The north-east façade facing School Croft is also in Flemish bond with similar windows and small blocked basement lights. An outshut at the left has an arched doorway with stone steps. The gable is treated as a pediment with stone string course in darker brick, topped by a ridge chimneystack. Early-20th-century rear extensions to the right are not of special interest.

The rear façade of the front range is in darker brick with mostly original sash windows and a large corniced eaves stack.

Interior

The interior plan has been altered to reflect post-office developments but has remained relatively unchanged since the post-office use ceased. The interior retains elements of original decorative detailing, including doors, architraves, skirting and cornicing, with some areas of restoration and some parts concealed by suspended ceilings. Flooring finishes of tiles, terrazzo and woodblock predominantly date from 1926, although the stone flags in the basement are thought to be original.