Post Office

WELLS

ST5445 MARKET PLACE 662-1/7/162 (East side) 31/07/70 Post Office

GV II

Former market house, now Post Office. 1835, by R Carver. Doulting stone ashlar, hipped Welsh slate roof to centre porch, flat roof to sides, ashlar chimney stack. EXTERIOR: one-and-half storey central section of 5 bays, with 2 set-back single-storey four-bay wings, each end bay further recessed. In a strict classical form. Plinth, Tuscan pilasters to ends and corners, and attached Tuscan columns between bays and doubling with pilaster to outer bays of central section; full frieze with metopes, cornice, and pediments to outer bays of centre portion, plain parapets. Semicircular arched openings to all bays, with side impost, architraves and keystones, keystones, the openings now filled with plain windows except extreme left bay, with a 6-panel door, bay 5 of central portion with a pair of doors, bay 2 of right wing a pair of doors, and the extreme right bay has carriage doors, part glazed. The upper storey has 3 slim semicircular arched window to the 3 middle bays, with matching panels over bays 1 and 5 above the pediments, plain parapet. The rear elevation is rendered, and extremely plain by contrast; the central hipped roof section has glazing at the ridge, and lean-tos at each side run down to long flat-roofed wings. The centre block has 9 small arched slit-lights above 1+3 square lights at the lower level, and to each side are 1:3:1 two and 3-light casements. All these windows are barred externally. INTERIOR: has not retained any features of interest to ground floor. HISTORICAL NOTE: in a photograph of 1902 the building is shown with the arcade still not enclosed; they were filled with panels and windows in the following year. (Buildings of England: Pevsner N: North Somerset and Bristol: London: 1958-: 325; Blue Guide: Orbach J: Victorian Architecture in Britain: London: 1987-: 378; Howell C: Wells in Old Photographs: Gloucester: 1989-: 36).

Listing NGR: ST5506545761