Post office and sorting office, 34 and 36 Fore Street

Purpose-built post office and sorting office, built in 1939, and designed in a neo-Georgian style. Attributed to the Office of Works architect HE Seccombe.

MATERIALS: the principal elevation has a polished granite plinth with ashlar stonework to the ground floor and a rendered finish to the first floor. The windows to the front range are of timber. There are metal-framed windows to the sorting office; the two windows either side of the rear entrance have been replaced with uPVC. The roof is covered in Delabole slate tiles. Cast-iron rainwater goods.

PLAN: the building has a roughly T-shaped plan. The two-storey range to the front housed the former public office (now subdivided) to the ground floor and meeting rooms above. The single-storey sorting office is to the rear with associated offices.

EXTERIOR: the ground floor is arranged as three wide bays articulated by wide stone Doric pilasters on polished granite bases. The entablature above originally incorporated ‘POST OFFICE’ in metal lettering to the frieze and features neatly cut ashlar voussoirs over the openings. The central date stone above includes the Royal Cypher of King George VI, and the date ‘1939’. The left-hand bay retains a four-panel door to the former telephone room and a six-panel door to the entrance lobby, with surrounding glazing. The central bay is dominated by a large bow window with reeded mullions; the two post boxes are later insertions. To the right-hand bay is the covered driveway, with kerbstones and a pair of iron gates. The rendered first floor is arranged as five bays with eight-over-eight sash windows with moulded stone cills. The concave timber eaves cornice carries the moulded guttering and to either side of the façade square profile cast-iron downpipes are recessed into the wall. The pitched roof is framed by high parapet walls.

The four-bay single-storey sorting office to the rear has a flat roof with a central glass roof lantern along its axis and a tall stack to the side. There are four large metal-framed windows to its north elevation, and a central rear entrance beneath a canopy, flanked by windows.

INTERIOR: the former public office (now subdivided) retains its coffered ceiling to its original extent. The original quarry tiles may survive beneath modern flooring. The dogleg cast concrete staircase has reeded detail to the treads and a rounded mahogany handrail raised above the concrete balustrade. Other features of note include window architrave, the metal door to the half landing with associated door furniture, the cornice and dado rail to the first-floor meeting room, the first-floor door architraves, with one retaining its glazed over light and four-panel door, and many of its original radiators. To the sorting office is a parquet floor, and the roof lantern retains its original fenestration with associated window furniture.