Post Office, 101 Main Street, Limavady, Co Londonderry, BT49 OEP

Post Office, 101 Main Street, Limavady

An unusual and architecturally fine building of the second half of the twentieth century, designed by T F O Rippingham, Chief Architect of the Ministry of Works for Northern Ireland. The building works well within the townscape context of Limavady Main Street, carefully considered in its own stripped classical terms.

The two-storey, five-bay post office is constructed of orange brick in Flemish bond with a steeply pitched glazed Roman tiled roof behind a parapet and stepped Dutch gables. It faces north-west onto Main Street.

The first floor features five equally spaced square windows with metal mullions and Portland stone surrounds and cills. The ground floor contains three tall windows with metal mullions and Portland stone surrounds. Above each of these windows is an elliptical oculus with Portland stone trim, aligning with the window heads. The two windows flanking the central bay drop slightly lower and have a recessed abstracted classical balustrade. A white render is applied beneath the windows, stepping up at the central bay, with a black render plinth course below.

The south-west elevation contains the main entrance, accessed via two black marble steps, with double raised and fielded hardwood doors and a plain rectangular fanlight over, flanked by simple black rails. The north-east elevation contains a square metal window set above a black slab with a projecting cill 300mm above road level.

The north-east gable is particularly visible on the north-west approach to Main Street, revealing the building to be very narrow and quite tall. The stepped gables incorporate a hidden chimney at the head and are trimmed in Portland stone. A string course of Portland stone aligns with the top of the front parapet. At the centre point is a semi-circular metal window with similar stone trim. Below this, a tall window spans the first and second floors, supported by a Portland stone rectangular column beneath a carving bearing the royal insignia and initials EIIR with 1952 below.

Black marble trimmed openings at each end of the ground floor feature regular angled cuts as decoration. A flagpole is mounted on the cill of the central window.

To the rear, a single-storey flat roof extension sits flush with the north-east facade, with a slightly taller return aligning with the south-west wall abutting the adjacent property. The rear elevation of the main building has five equally spaced square windows lighting the first floor, with no parapet; the eaves meet the top of the windows.

The building opened in July 1952. It was built by J V Loughrey of Limavady and operated as a post office until 1994, when counter operations were closed. A single-storey rear extension was added in 1994 as part of a reorganisation of the sorting office. A nearby former cinema was demolished at the same time to increase vehicular access to the rear.