Description

SUNDERLAND

NZ3957SE WEST SUNNISIDE
920-1/18/241 (East side)
Post Office and railings

II

General post office, now local delivery office, and railings.
1903. By Sir Henry Tanner. Sandstone ashlar with red granite
door architraves to main block; graduated Lakeland slate roof
with ashlar chimneys and copper ridge; cast-iron railings.
EXTERIOR: main block at right 3 storeys, 1:2:3x1:3:1 windows;
left sorting office one storey, 3:3:3:3 windows. Main block
has panelled door at right of right 3-bay gabled section, in
architrave under bracketed cornice; mullioned and transomed
windows to left and in bracketed first floor oriels in outer
bays flanking arched recess with low relief POST OFFICE, sill
strings continuing from plinths of pilasters. These 3 bays are
linked by bracketed cornice breaking forward over Tuscan
pilasters defining bays and surmounted by corniced blocking
course with small pedimented arches above windows. Second
floor has 3 pairs of windows under bracketed cornice; shaped
gable has side consoles and raised top panel framing attached
Corinthian columns of arched window surround with high
pediment. Left one-bay gabled bay section in similar style has
a 3-light window in first floor oriel, and simpler gable with
3 small lights and high pediment. 2-bay section set back
between the gabled bays has arcaded ground floor with panelled
door at left and window in recess at right, and 2-light
windows above, the right first floor bay blank.Steeply-pitched
roofs run back from gables and have chimneys above eaves, and
high domed ridge lantern.
Right return to public garden has simpler centre and
pilastered outer sections with Tuscan below and Corinthian
order on first floor, and top floor has lunettes between big
consoles on dentilled first-floor cornice. One-storey block
behind main office has keyed architraves to round-arched
windows in left part, with outer bays breaking forward under
pediments, and 3 gabled set back sections each with 3
windows,the central under lunettes in pedimented pilastered
centres, all with sill string.
Railings punctuated by patterned panels link projecting
sections on West Sunniside and continue around right return.
Rear to Norfolk Street is mostly a mirror image of the West
Sunniside front.
(Corfe T: The Buildings of Sunderland 1814-1914.: Newcastle
upon Tyne: 1983-: 30).

Listing NGR: NZ3995457076

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26502316

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)