Post Office

The Post Office on Hargreaves Street in Burnley was built in 1900 by the Office of Works, with Norman Shaw as the special advisor. This building features red brick in Flemish bond, with decorative buff terracotta that mimics stone, a grey granite plinth, and a steeply-pitched red tile roof. It is designed in an elaborate Flemish Renaissance style and has a square plan with a short rear wing.

The exterior is three storeys high with an attic and has a symmetrical arrangement of windows, except for the ground floor. The ground floor features a grey granite plinth and terracotta "ashlar," with three terracotta bands on each upper floor. A prominent cornice with modillions and egg-and-dart detailing is broken in the center by a tall gable that has flanking finials and an open-segmental-pedimented feature.

The ground floor has three round-headed openings in the center, with the first being a doorway that has an elaborate surround, including a granite architrave and a segmental canopy supported by granite columns with Ionic sandstone caps. The other two openings are windows with run-out voussoirs and elongated keystones. There are coupled square-headed windows on either side of the center, a single-light window to the right, and a smaller doorway to the left, which has a Gibbs surround and a keyed oculus above it.

On the first floor, the central windows are arranged in a 2:1:2 pattern within an elaborate architrave featuring Ionic semi-columns and pilasters, topped with an open pediment that contains a triple keystone adorned with a swag. The outer bays have windows with moulded architraves and triple keystones, with floating open pediments that alternate between segmental and triangular shapes. The second floor has smaller windows with similarly detailed architraves but without pediments. All windows are sashed with glazing bars. The central gable features two bands and a central cartouche with an oval window, flanked by shallow flat-roofed six-light dormers. The interior has not been inspected.