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Former Post Office

Location 162 Toorak Road,, SOUTH YARRA VIC 3141 - Property No B2191 File Number B2191 Level State

[1/1] B2191 Former Post Office

Statement of Significance

On a restricted and precipitous site adjacent the railway cutting at 162 Toorak Road stands the former South Yarra Post Office. Designed in 1890 by Public Works Department (PWD), Architect, A J McDonald and erected in 1892-3, the three-storey red brick structure combines basic American Romanesque characteristics with Scottish baronial forms and art nouveau and Australian decorative motifs in an asymmetrical picturesque compostiion.
The former South Yarra Post Office is unique in the history of Australian Architecture and one of a rare group of buildings which, whilst reflecting the influence of the American romanesque, epitomises the late 19th century movement to evolve an Australian style in architecture. The Post Office is an outstanding, innovative work of A J MacDonald and one of the most important and influential designs to come from the PWD in the 1890s.
South Yarra Post Office is largely intact. The interior of the public room has been stripped of the original fittings.
Classified: 'Regional'27/10/1966
Revised: 03/08/1998