Head Post Office And Attached Railings

SHEFFIELD

SK3587SE FITZALAN SQUARE 784-1/25/321 (South side) 28/06/73 Head Post Office and attached railing

GV II

Post office and attached railing. 1893, with addition in sympathetic style, 1910. By J Williams. Ashlar with ashlar and granite dressings. Hipped slate roof to main block, and slate mansard roof to addition. Single coped stone ridge stack. Free Classical style. EXTERIOR: 3 storeys plus attics; 7 bays. Recessed centre has five 12 pane sashes, the ground floor ones with balustrades below them, pediments and keystones. Giant order of engaged Ionic columns with pulvinated frieze and dentilled cornice topped with pierced balustrade. Attic storey has 5 similar sashes divided by plain pilasters. Above the eaves cornice, 5 box dormers with 4-pane casements. On either side, a heavily rusticated entrance bay with giant pilasters, and dentilled cornice and half-round pediment. First floor has a 12 pane sash flanked by single 8 pane sashes, divided by paired Doric columns. In the pediment, a segment-headed tripartite window. Coved round-arched entrance with scrolled keystone and entrance portico with blocked granite columns and dentilled cornice. Above it, a Diocletian window. Round corner tower, to right, topped with a dome supported by consoles, has banded lower stages with two stepped 8 pane stair windows with cornices. Attic storey has three 12 pane sashes divided by paired Doric columns, and moulded stepped cornice. Ground floor has a Diocletian window with posting boxes below it. Right return has a bay similar to the entrance bays, with a ground floor transomed Diocletian window with post boxes below it. To right, 1910 addition. 3 storeys plus attics; 10 bays. Nine 12 pane sashes with moulded surrounds, those to the ground floor with cornices and ornamented keystones. Pulvinated frieze and dentilled cornice. Attic storey has similar smaller windows, with string course and moulded cornice. Mansard has 8 box dormers with 9 pane sashes. Outside, a wrought-iron railing with corniced ashlar piers. To right, an entrance bay similar to those of the main block, but without the pediment. Diocletian window to ground floor. INTERIOR has a marble panelled main hall with enriched cross beam ceiling and cornice. Doorcases with dentilled cornices. Cantilever stone spiral stair with wrought-iron balustrade. (The Buildings of England: Pevsner N: Yorkshire: The West Riding: London: 1967-: 453).

Listing NGR: SK3571587398