Administration Building within the 1935 Building, Royal Mail Sorting Office

MATERIALS: the Administration Building is faced in limestone ashlar and has a large plain hipped roof with slate tiles, the roofs to the wings are hidden behind parapets and the roof to the pediment is clad in lead.

PLAN: the Administration Building is a single-depth, two-storey structure and is divided from the Sorting Hall (not of special interest) to the west by an internal partition wall which is located at the point of the valley between the two roofs.

EXTERIOR: the Administration Building is of two-storeys on a plinth, rising directly from the river bank. It has nine bays in all: three central projecting bays flanked by two recessed bays and a single-bay wing on either end. The outside bays are small wings, and the main block contains a three-bay centrepiece. The ground floor is loftier with sixteen -over-twelve sash windows flanking twenty-over-fifteen examples in the centre, of which three also have round heads. All the second-floor sashes are eight-over-eight. The centre three bays are framed by an attached Roman Doric order of giant pilasters supporting a pediment with the Royal Arms of George V and the date 1935. The west side is attached to the sorting hall, and only the second floor is visible on this side, with metal casement windows.

INTERIOR: the Administration Building's interior retains much of its original plan, although some later partitions have been inserted. There are some four-panel doors with over-door lights above. Many of the other doors have been renewed or replaced. There is a stairwell with a timber handrail at either end of the building. The rooms all have false ceilings.