PARKVILLE POST OFFICE AND QUARTERS

The Parkville Post Office and Quarters was designed in the neo-Gothic style by Public Works Department architects SE Brindley and SC Brittingham. The builder was JG McLean and the building was completed in 1889. The Parkville Post Office and Quarters is a two storey polychrome brick building on a bluestone plinth. It is sited on a corner location with facades to Fitzgibbon Street and Bayles Street. Each of the street facades is composed of three bays, with the centre bay projecting slightly forward and topped by a parapeted gable projecting through the eaves line. All openings have stilted segmental arches or single point segmental arches. String courses, imposts, drip moulds and quatrefoil motifs are in freestone. The eaves are augmented with brick machicolations and the hipped roofs are covered with slate. Stained glass windows have been introduced from the demolished Preston Post office. The interior layout is largely intact although the counter and instrument table have been replaced.

How is it significant?

The Parkville Post Office and Quarters is of architectural significance to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?

The Parkville Post Office and Quarters is architecturally significant as an early example of the adoption by the Public Works Department of the Gothic polychrome style for post offices. It also demonstrates the gradual adoption during the late 1880s of Gothic styling for public buildings other than schools. The choice of the Gothic style at the Parkville Post Office and Quarters contrasts to other post offices built in the same year. Flemington was in a Moorish style, Geelong was Italianate, Mildura was Queen Anne and Warracknabeal was in an English domestic style. The Parkville Post Office and Quarters is also of significance as a design response to the suburban setting, offering a truly residential, domestic character in keeping with the character of suburban Parkville.

Group

Postal and Telecommunications

Category

Post Office