Larger versions of these images are located at the foot of the page. Basic Site Details Name: | Head Post Office | City or county: | Aberdeen | Country: | Scotland | Parish: | | Status: | B listed | Grid ref: | | Notes: | ABERDEEN.—The new post-office will be opened on Monday next. The building, which rises three stories above the street level, covers an area of 2,582 superficial yards, and has a frontage to both Crown-street and Dee-street. The public office, has a floor area of 2,000 superficial feet and a ceiling 20ft. high. The walls are lined with marble to a height of 9 feet, the floor is of mosaic, the woodwork of wainscot, and the ceiling panelled. The public counter forms three sides of a square, and has a total length of 84ft. The top floor of the Crown-street block contains a telegraph school, telephone-room, mechanics' room, etc. The whole area of the street floor between the Crown-street and Dee-street blocks is taken up by the letter and parcel sorting office. Upon the first floor of the centre connecting block the medical officer, pay officers, telegraph engineers, ete, are accommodated, while the top floor is occupied by the telegraph instrument room. The street floor of the Dee-street block contains the telegraph delivery-room and bicycle room, also a retiring- room for postmen. Two staircases, with entry from Dee-street, give access to the first and second floors, on the former of which are placed the staff dining- and serving rooms. The second floor is almost exclusively given over to the Great Northern Telegraph Co. A basement extends under the whole area of the buildings. The whole structure is built on fire resisting principles. Both street fronts are faced with Kenmey granite. The buildings, though only three stories high, attain a general height, to the top of the parapet, of 58 feet above the street level, while gables and turrets rise still higher, and show a broken skyline. Architecturally, the design is in the spirit of the Scottish Baronial. The building was designed in H.M. Office of Works, under the direction of Mr W W Robertson, late HM Principal Architect for Scotland : but the plans were carried out by Mr W T Oldrieve, FSI, HM Principal Architect for Scotland. The cost has been over £50,000. Mr J Reid acted as clerk of works, and the general contractors were Messrs Peter Bisset and Sons, Aberdeen. [Building News 5 April 1907 p483]
| Building Type ClassificationThe building is classified under the following categories: | | Classification | Original classification? | Notes |  | Post office | | |
Street AddressesThe following street addresses are associated with this building: | | Address | Main entrance? | Notes |  | 24-28, Crown Street | Yes | |  | 21-29, Dee Street | Yes | |
EventsThe following date-based events are associated with this building: | | From | To | Event type | Notes |  | 1904 | 1907 | Build/construction | |  | c. 1999 | | Alteration/conversion | Conversion to flats |
PeopleDesign and Construction* earliest date known from documented sources.
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this building: | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes |  | Post Office Directories | | | | | Aberdeen directory 1907-08 |  | Sharples, J, Walker, D W and Woodworth, M | 2015 | The Buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire South and Aberdeen | | London and New Haven: Yale University Press | p164 |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this building: | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes |  | Aberdeen Daily Journal | 6 April 1907 | | | |  | Architect | 15 December 1906 | | | p699 |  | Architect | 19 April 1907 | | | p256 |  | Builder | 10 November 1900 | | | p424 |  | Builder | 13 April 1907 | | | pp454-455 |  | Building News | 5 April 1907 | | | p483 |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this building: | | Source | Archive name | Source catalogue no. | Notes |  | British Postal Museum and Archive | Archival material | | Ref POST 32/118-119 and POST 118/6194-6197.
|  | Historic Environment Scotland | Listed Buildings Register | 19987 | |  | National Monuments Record of Scotland/NMRS, RCAHMS | NMRS Architects Index | | |  | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | Charles Ernest Jackson: L v24 no1986; Walter Wood Robertson: F v18 p9 no1179 (microfilm reel 12); James Cumming Wynnes: L v9 no516 (microfilm reel 32) |  | Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland | Canmore | ID 148731 | |
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