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Former Post Office

Location 91 Barkly Street,, ARARAT VIC 3377 - Property No B2119 File Number B2119 Level State

[1/2] B2119 Post Office [2/2] B2119 Post Office

Statement of Significance

The former Post Office, Ararat, dates from 1861/62. It was erected by the Public Works Department to the designs by A T Snow. The contractor was D Secton. The once simple Italianate Palazzo form has a three-arch arcade on the ground floor - subsequently filled.
The first floor oriel incorporating a clock was designed by P G Fick of the Public Works Department and was added in 1889. Other additions and alterations were undertaken in 1908/1909 and 1926/27. The building was joined to the former Sub-Treasury by a communicating door, and it appears that the Post Office occupied them both as early as 1876.
This is one of the earliest surviving Post Office buildings in Victoria. It is the first Post Office designed in the Italianate style, a style which in later years was widely used in Post Office architecture. The building is finely conceived with rusticated bluestone walls (an unusual feature as most large Post Offices have rendered facades) and dressed stone mouldings. The arcade with its robust dressed stone voussoirs, and the unique first floor oriel window are distinctive features. The building is an important element of Ararat and with the neighbouring Court House and former Sub-Treasury forms a significant group.
Classified: 08/06/1967
See also B4655 Former Sub-Treasury