Former Post Office, 20 - 32, Waterloo Road, Bloomfield
Location/Address
None recorded
Type
Description
Purpose-built post office retaining much of its original character despite the later addition of a third storey and insertion of uPVC windows. The post office dominates the north side of the Waterloo Road, an important retail street. An imposing 3-storey purpose-built post office opened in 1929 to replace the small post office on the corner of St. Bede’s Avenue. The new post office provided a telephone exchange to the whole of the first floor, and a large vestibule immediately inside the doorway housed telephone cabinets. To the rear was the main hall with a 28 foot long counter. The front section of the ground floor was originally set out as retail units, the three wide windows either side of the entrance being later replacements for the shop fronts. The second floor was added at a later date, probably in the 1960s. Constructed of red brick laid in English bond, the symmetrical frontage of the 11-bay, 3-storey building is articulated by a slightly projecting central bay and stone string courses. The ground floor is faced in ashlar, with a central rusticated entrance surround to the semi-circular headed doorway; panelled timber double doors with decorative metal tracery to fan light and side windows. ‘POST OFFICE’ is inscribed on the stone band above the entrance, below a pedimented window to the first floor. Three wide tripartite windows flank the entrance, later alterations. First floor windows with keystones, all now uPVC. The added third floor has steel windows with wedge lintels, with parapet concealing the flat roof. The building is built up to the rear of the footway and there are four late 20th-century phone boxes flanking the front door.
Statement of Significance
Age
Opened in 1929.
Date Listed
n/a
Find Out More
Find out more about this Asset in Lancashire Local List:
https://local-heritage-list.org.uk/lancashire/asset/281
https://local-heritage-list.org.uk/lancashire/asset/281