Description

The following building shall be added:

SD 33 NW BLACKPOOL ABINGDON STREET

44-0/2/10000 26 to 30
General Post Office
(front range only)

II

Post Office. 1910, designed by architects of the Office of Works, built
by R.Neill & Son of Manchester; slightly altered. Portland stone with a
hipped roof of green slate. Rectangular plan parallel to street.
Renaissance style. Three storeys over cellars, 4:7:4 windows, a
symmetrical composition in which the main range has 1:5:1 bays (the
outer bays breaking forwards slightly) and the side ranges are slightly
set back; with a plinth of 3 courses of punch-dressed rock-faced blocks,
channelled rustication and a plain frieze to the ground floor, similar
channelling to the outer bays of the main range and at the corners of
the side ranges, giant pilasters to the upper floors of the 5-bay
centre, an egg-and-dart frieze, prominent modillioned cornice, and a
balustraded parapet to the main range terminating in upstands over its
outer bays. The outer bays of the main range have large round-headed
doorways, each with a prominent segmental canopy home by a pair of
Atlantes on tall pedestals, a moulded head with a scrolled keyblock, and
double wooden doors with oval panels; its 5-bay centre has round-headed
windows with run-out voussoirs, triple keystones and tripartite sashed
glazing with panelled-pilaster mullions and original stained glass
(mostly simple wreaths and swags, but that in the centre including the
Royal Arms). On the upper floors the 5-bay centre has Ionic caps to the
pilasters enriched with lion-masks gripping festoons; 12-pane sashed
windows at 1st floor in raised architraves with segmental open
pediments, and 9-pane sashes at 2nd floor with simpler architraves; its
outer bays have similar sashed windows, those at 1st floor with triple
keystones and those at 2nd floor in architraves with aprons, and the
upstands above have bulbous cartouches with carved shields (Royal Arms
to the left, surmounted by a crown, and Blackpool Borough to the right,
surmounted by a miniature windmill). The 4-window side ranges differ at
ground floor, where that to the left has 12-pane sashes and that to the
right has 9-pane sashes over segmental-arched posting boxes (variously
altered), but all these windows have triple keystones; otherwise, both
have 12-pane sashes at 1st floor framed by panelled pilasters, and two
colonnaded 3-light sashed windows at 2nd floor with set-in Tuscan
colonnettes. The 3-window left return wall is in similar style including
a colonnaded window at 2nd floor. INTERIOR: internal porches with carved
wooden architraves to the doors, those to the hall with segmental
pediments containing moulded plaster cartouches (lettered "G VI R");
large main hall with central pillars which have moulded plaster
festoons, and coffered ceiling with egg-and-dart cornices; believed to
have marble mosaic floor under modem covering. Forms group with set of
8 K6 telephone kiosks immediately in front (q.v.).

Listing NGR: SD3086336333

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26519503

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

• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Berkshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Warwickshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)