General Post Office (Front Range Only)

Post Office, Blackpool, designed and built in 1910 by architects of the Office of Works and constructed by R. Neill & Son of Manchester. The building is constructed in Portland stone with a hipped roof of green slate and follows a Renaissance style. It comprises three storeys over cellars arranged on a rectangular plan parallel to the street. The structure is slightly altered from its original state.

The main front range features a symmetrical composition with a central 5-bay section flanked by outer bays that break forward slightly. The side ranges are set back. The ground floor is articulated with a plinth of three courses of punch-dressed rock-faced blocks, channelled rustication, and a plain frieze. Giant pilasters rise through the upper floors of the 5-bay centre, topped with Ionic capitals enriched with lion-masks gripping festoons. A prominent modillioned cornice runs across the building, with an egg-and-dart frieze, and a balustraded parapet crowns the main range, terminating in upstands over the outer bays.

The outer bays of the main range display large round-headed doorways, each crowned by a prominent segmental canopy supported by a pair of Atlantes on tall pedestals. The doors feature moulded heads with scrolled keystones and are made of double wood with oval panels. The 5-bay centre contains round-headed windows with run-out voussoirs, triple keystones, and tripartite sashed glazing with panelled-pilaster mullions. The original stained glass survives, principally featuring simple wreaths and swags, though the central window includes the Royal Arms.

On the upper floors, the 5-bay centre has 12-pane sashed windows at first floor level set in raised architraves with segmental open pediments, and 9-pane sashes at second floor with simpler architraves. The outer bays feature similar sashed windows: those at first floor have triple keystones, whilst those at second floor are set in architraves with aprons. Above these windows are bulbous cartouches containing carved shields—the Royal Arms surmounted by a crown to the left and the Blackpool Borough coat of arms surmounted by a miniature windmill to the right.

The 4-window side ranges differ at ground floor level: the left side has 12-pane sashes whilst the right has 9-pane sashes positioned above segmental-arched posting boxes (variously altered). All ground floor windows feature triple keystones. The upper floors of both side ranges have 12-pane sashes at first floor framed by panelled pilasters, and two colonnaded 3-light sashed windows at second floor with set-in Tuscan colonnettes. The 3-window left return wall follows similar styling, including a colonnaded window at second floor.

The interior features internal porches with carved wooden architraves to the doors. Those serving the hall are topped with segmental pediments containing moulded plaster cartouches lettered "G VI R". The large main hall contains central pillars with moulded plaster festoons and a coffered ceiling with egg-and-dart cornices. The floor is believed to be a marble mosaic beneath modern covering.

The building forms a group with a set of eight K6 telephone kiosks positioned immediately in front.