Post Box, Outside No. 73 Ulsterville Ave, Belfast

This Grade A listed post box, dating from between 1903 and 1910, stands on the pavement outside 73 Ulsterville Avenue in Belfast. It is a free-standing cast-iron pillar box of the cylindrical design introduced by the Post Office in 1879, painted in the characteristic pillar box red except for its black base, which bears the maker's name "Handyside Derby & London".

The box stands 5 feet high, with diameters of 21 inches around its cap, 15½ inches around its shaft, and 17 inches around its base. Below a shallow oversailing cap with a fluted edge is a hooded rectangular aperture for posting letters, flanked by raised letters reading "POST" and "OFFICE". Below the aperture is a hinged door with a raised lock on the right side. Above the door sits a notice plate holder displaying collection days and times, with the box number BT9 261D shown at the bottom. Below this is an "E R VII" cipher in cursive script with a raised crown above.

This particular box is first documented on the 1920 Ordnance Survey town plan of Belfast, though it was erected sometime between 1903 and 1910. It represents a well-preserved example of Edwardian street furniture and holds considerable socio-historical importance as the principal means of distance communication at the time of its installation. Boxes of this date from King Edward VII's reign are believed to be relatively few in number throughout Northern Ireland, making this example of considerable value. The design is the standard cylindrical type which, following its introduction in 1879, remained essentially unchanged until the 1960s. Early versions of these cylinders carried no royal cipher, but this was added from 1887 onwards along with the words "POST OFFICE" either side of the aperture, as seen on this box.