Blythe House (former Post Office Savings Bank Headquarters)

Blythe House was built as the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank between 1899 and 1903, with an eastern range added in 1922. It is constructed of pinkish-red Midlands brick with Portland stone dressings, while the east and west courtyard elevations are faced in glazed brick. The building employed advanced fire-resistant construction methods: steel-framed floors with breeze-concrete infill sit on substantial cast-iron columns with moulded caps and bases, all contained within load-bearing brick walls. The riveted main beams, now encased, were originally exposed.

Planning and Layout

The building was originally conceived as a vast rectangle aligned east-west, divided internally into three courts by two cross-ranges. The first phase (1899-1903) omitted the planned east and west closing ranges, consisting instead of two long north and south ranges—the northern deeper than the southern—and two inner cross-ranges with spine corridors. Stairs and lifts were positioned in recessed links at the four intersections of these ranges. The addition of the east range in 1922 created a second enclosed courtyard.

The north frontage block contained a variety of office types, from cellular offices to large open-plan workrooms, arranged along either side of a corridor. Principal offices occupied the ground floor, with senior staff offices on the western side accessed through an open entrance hall (now subdivided). Some original ground-floor layout survives, but above this level partitions and corridors have been removed to create vast open-plan spaces. The south wing, which housed female staff, was originally open-plan and largely remains so, though with some modern subdivision. The north-south cross-ranges incorporate mezzanine levels on the inner side where cloakrooms and lavatories were located, with further offices and ancillary rooms on the outer side; room layouts here have been substantially altered. A separate entrance and small entrance hall for female staff exists on the south-east side of the eastern cross range.

Exterior

The building stands four storeys high with an attic and semi-basement. The principal north elevation displays Edwardian Baroque styling with 'Wrenaissance' detail. It is symmetrical with a projecting frontispiece and end pavilions, articulated 3:7:5:7:3 bays with one-bay returns. The third and fourth floors are treated as a double attic storey above a deep modillion cornice. The recessed seven-bay sections have a slated false mansard roof with timber pedimented dormers rather than a full upper attic storey. The roofs are otherwise flat.

The elaborate five-bay frontispiece is emphasised by tower bays flanking a heavily rusticated stone tripartite entrance arch, which features a pediment carved with the Post Office crown and acroteria bearing the carved ER monogram. Attic windows have aedicular surrounds and balconets, with the taller central bay containing a clock beneath an eyebrow pediment. The stone towers, topped by open cupolas, derive from Christopher Wren's west towers at St Paul's Cathedral. The end pavilions feature colonnettes at the first and third-floor windows and oeil-de-boeuf attic windows in the pedimented outer bays. Windows throughout have stone mullions and transoms; ground-floor windows sit in rusticated surrounds while first-floor windows are pedimented. All windows are timber sashes with glazing bars and fixed upper lights. The ragged masonry ends of the west flank elevation reveal the absence of the planned west range. The basement area is enclosed by cast-iron railings with Art Nouveau detailing on a low stone wall.

On the wall left of the entrance is the foundation stone; to the right is a granite war memorial within a bronze frame, erected in 1919. This was paid for by staff subscription and made by AL and CE Moore, and is inscribed with the names of the 93 employees who fell in the Great War.

A triple barrel-vaulted carriageway on stone compound piers leads through to the main courtyard. The courtyard elevations are faced in red brick with dignified but simple treatment, incorporating stone details such as pediments to first-floor windows and string-courses, and brick openwork parapets (largely rebuilt to match the originals). A walkway joining the south ends of the cross-ranges is enclosed with timber and glass between cast-iron columns. The basement area, with coal vaults along the east and west sides, is enclosed by railings matching those at the frontage. Square 'chimneys' on all courtyard elevations serve as ventilation shafts. The south elevation, which has no street frontage, is articulated 7:3:9:3:7 bays with treatment similar to the central courtyard. Windows on the south and courtyard elevations are sashes set within timber mullions and transoms (some with reeded mullions), with smaller windows serving the mezzanine levels of the cross-ranges.

Interior

The interior is consistently finished with glazed-brick linings in cream and yellow with minimal pale green patterning to corridors, stairwells and interior office walls. Flooring is maple wood-block and tile, with some areas of terrazzo.

The ground floor of the western front range forms an exception, featuring a stone pilastered entrance hall and corridor with moulded plaster cornices and glazed timber doors. The entrance hall has been partly subdivided with modern partitions (not of special interest), but the decorative features and arched entrance to the former War Memorial room remain in place. The original coloured terrazzo floor may survive beneath later floor covering. The former Director's office (south-west corner) has a plaster ceiling with egg-and-dart enrichment to the beams and cornice, and a stone bolection-moulded chimneypiece. The former Controller's office (north-west corner) has a beamed plaster ceiling and a simple grey marble fire surround. A few other fireplaces survive elsewhere.

At fourth-floor level, the original clock mechanism survives in working order. The cross-range corridors retain their wall-mounted metal ventilators, and a number of glazed panelled doors remain in these areas. At the four intersections of the ranges, stone serliana open onto imposing open-well cantilevered stairs with scrolled wrought-iron balustrades, hardwood handrails and reconstituted stone or concrete treads. The women's entrance hall features a glazed timber lobby and triple doorways in keyed stone arches on the inner side.

The majority of offices and workspaces are (and always were) very sparsely finished with exposed cast-iron columns and steel beams (the latter now enclosed). Rooms were originally divided by timber partitions which have largely been removed; other than tiled walls, there are no fixtures or fittings of note. The basement lacks features of interest except for some strong rooms with steel doors. Many interior spaces have modern (1980s or later) partitions which are not of special interest.

Boundary Features and Ancillary Buildings

The north frontage is enclosed by low stone boundary walls with rusticated piers surmounted by ball finials, cast-iron railings and triple gates with fleur-de-lys heads and wrought scrolled detail. Tall rusticated piers flank the central pair of gates, each bearing an ornate lamp standard. To the right stands a small stone porter's lodge with an open segmental pediment and rusticated angle pilasters; this is balanced on the left by an open arch with identical detailing.

To the south lies a 12-bay single-storey brick boiler house with 12 pilastered arcaded bays, a pitched slate roof, stepped gables and a banded end stack. The front retains some original paired windows; other openings have been blocked or altered. Internal plant and fittings are not of special interest. Behind this rises a 150-foot-tall red-brick and stone-dressed chimney, detailed as a campanile with blind arcading and cornices. The lower attached buildings are excluded from the listing, as are the ranges of workshops to the south-west of the site, the former printing works in the east courtyard, and all post-war structures within the site.