The General Post Office (abbreviation GPO, commonly known as the Sydney GPO) is a heritage-listed landmark building located in Martin Place, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The original building was constructed in two stages beginning in 1866 and was designed under the guidance of Colonial Architect James Barnet. Composed primarily of local Sydney sandstone, mined in Pyrmont, the primary load-bearing northern façade has been described as "the finest example of the Victorian Italian Renaissance Style in NSW" and stretches along Martin Place, making it one of the largest sandstone buildings in Sydney.
The building served as the headquarters of Australia Post from its completion until 1996 when it was privatised and refurbished. The scaled back day-to-day counter postal services are now located on the George Street frontage and the outlet is known as the Sydney GPO Post Shop. The old General Post Office post boxes and Poste restante services are now located in the Australia Post site in the Hunter Connection, on the corner of George Street and Hunter Street. Despite significant internal alterations and additions, the façade has remained virtually unchanged and is listed both on the Commonwealth Heritage List and the New South Wales State Heritage Register, as recognition of its architectural and social significance to the history of Australia.
Location The site of the GPO falls within the traditional country of the Cadigal people, a part of the Eora Aboriginal nation within the Sydney region and one of the many hundreds of communities which make up the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. Historically noted for being a harbour-dwelling clan, the Cadigal people inhabited the shorelines stretching from inner South Head to the Eastern Suburbs, and west to Warrane (or War-ran, now known as Sydney Cove) and also along parts of today's City of Sydney to Gomora (now known as Darling Harbour). The current site of the General Post Office is also situated over the now entirely enclosed Tank Stream, which was once the primary source of fresh water for the Penal Colony of New South Wales, shortly after the arrival the First Fleet on 26 January 1788, under the direction of Arthur Philip, the First Governor.
Today, the General Post Office is located along the western end of Martin Place (No. 1 Martin Place) and spans the entire length of this section of public plaza between George and Pitt Streets. Its geographical location within one of Sydney's key central business district (CBD) public spaces makes it a recognisable public landmark, alongside other significant buildings such as the State Savings Bank Building and the MLC Centre. The central axis of its primary façade is also aligned with the ANZAC Cenotaph, a memorial located at the centre of Martin Place, dedicated to the soldiers who fought in World War I.
Relationship to Martin Place
It has been said by several influential architectural historians that the development and creation of Martin Place stems greatly from the construction of the General Post Office. When Barnet was first commissioned to build the new post office, the main façade faced George Street and the colonnade faced a tiny lane only wide. Through the articulation of the northern façade, with a well maintained continuity in proportion between the three types of openings along the levels of the GPO generated a harmonious module which allowed the full sense of grandeur to be realised. The use of government funds was granted so that land was purchased north of the GPO to provide an "appropriately scaled civic setting for the GPO." Barnet's deliberate insertion of an arcade, proportional intents and the centring of the campanile along what was once a lane way were all architectural moves designed to develop a space which would link Pitt and George Streets. Some argue that Martin Place "was never planned. Nor was it entirely accidental"; rather the public square evolved through a "serendipitous mixture of architectural flair, public debate and individual determination."
Others have however been more certain in the relationship between Martin Place and the GPO, saying for example that Barnet's "understanding of civic propriety and of the role of public buildings coincided with the Victorian concept of decorum: civic order and urban legibility established through public buildings." In this view, the GPO and the subsequent construction of Martin Place show the "power of the building's presence to force the clearing of lesser buildings, to create a public space, reinforces this as does the design of a facing building that clearly understood its need to be complementary and referential." It has been argued that the granite and sandstone arcade offers a transition between the public domain and interior spaces of the GPO, where a strong presence which "forced the clearing of lesser buildings" generates a public square. The existence of Martin Place is largely "owed to the construction of the General Post Office"; Barnet knew changes would be made "because the completed building would clearly lack what was appropriate to it, a dignified square."
Origins The original building was constructed in two stages beginning in 1866 and was designed under the guidance of Colonial Architect James Barnet. It was regarded as a building that would come to symbolise Sydney in the same way the Houses of Parliament in Westminster represent London and the Eiffel Tower, Paris.
The first Sydney post office (1819–1848)
Prior to the construction of the current GPO building, Sydney's first post office was built along Bent Street in 1819. The current site of the GPO did not become associated with the postal service until 1830, when the Bent Street post office was moved to its site on George Street. It was also at this time that a former police office (designed by Francis Greenway), situated on the current George Street facing site of the GPO was also converted to be part of the postal service in the 1830s. It was documented that this land had been purchased many years earlier by the then-Governor, Lachlan Macquarie for "a hogshead of brandy and either £30 or £50."
This new post office along George Street was designed by several other early colonial architects including Mr Abraham and Mr Mortimer Lewis. Both these people are attributed with the design of the Roman Doric hexastyle portico and for the first time, setting this public building apart from its surrounding commercial shops. Writing about the newly modified post office in 1848, Joseph Fowles commented that it was "one of the most important buildings in the colony, not merely as regards the structure, but as being the centre and focus, the heart, as it may be termed, from which the pulse of the civilisation throbs to the remotest extremity of the land."
Board of Enquiry (1848–1866) Despite several alterations to the post office on George Street, by 1851, a special Board of Enquiry established by the colonial government had concluded that "the building [is] very ill-adapted for the business required to be carried out in it..." Further alterations were added in an attempt to relieve some pressure on the mail service, but nevertheless, the lack of amenities was a source of complaint by workers and one staff member in 1853 described how "the stench in this room is at times so unbearable as to hinder us materially in the performance of our duties." Continued rapid growth and population rise, particularly in New South Wales had placed significant strain on the postal services and the post office building itself, which had now become a public and government concern due to its gross overcrowding and that the system of handling mail was rapidly descending into the danger of collapsing entirely. Despite these growing problems, the building remained in use but, by 1863, the situation had worsened such that the Doric building had been entirely abandoned and a larger temporary wooden structure to serve as a temporary post office in Wynyard Square (now Wynyard Park) was erected at a government cost of A£4,000. It was at this time that James Barnet, having recently been appointed the first Colonial Architect of New South Wales, was instructed to prepare plans for a new post office on the George Street segment of the present site.
Although his intention had always been to create a much grander civic structure, it has also been documented that Barnet entertained suggestions that the existing Doric portico be retained and a new, larger structure be erected behind it. This idea was unique for its time as it was "almost certainly" the first time in Australian architectural history that contemplation for 'retaining' and 'recycling' an existing historic building had been documented. Eventually however, the former GPO was demolished and today, one of its six Doric columns used to stand in Mount Street Plaza, North Sydney, whilst another can be found off Bradleys Head, Mosman.
James Barnet's post office
First stage construction (1866–1874) Following the demolition of the old post office, the Wynyard 'temporary' building continued to serve as the post office for ten years whilst Barnet oversaw the first stage construction of his GPO. The designs which he had begun in 1863 were completed and submitted for approval in February 1865. Political changes however led to delays for the excavation and foundation works and tenders for the building's main construction did not go out until October 1866. On 17 December 1866, it was announced that builder John Young was awarded the contract for "carpenters, joiners, slaters, plumbers, painters and glaziers. His tender for masons and bricklayers was also accepted [whilst]...the commission for ironworks went to P.N. Russell and Co."
Early progress proved to be a slow and difficult process, particularly due to the need to enclose the Tank Stream running below the foundations and to ensure construction would not affect adjoining buildings. In April 1869, The Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred (later known as The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), second son and fourth child of Queen Victoria, set the keystone of the George Street entrance for the post office. A prominent newspaper of the time reported that the "ponderous keystone" was quarried at Pyrmont and weighted 26 tons (26.5 metric tonnes), highlighting that it was one of many such stones used in the construction of the building and described as being "without parallel in the city."
As construction works progressed, public interest and attention turned increasingly to the future of this civic structure. Shortly after the official keystone setting ceremony, on 8 September 1869, news reports began anticipating how "the building will be one of the finest specimens of architecture in the colony—a credit to the city, and a monument to the ability of the colonial Architect by whom it was designed." It was also at this time that suggestions for the widening of the adjacent St. Martin's Lane began, with a newspaper commenting on 20 January 1870 that "a decent thoroughfare...would add to the architectural reputation of the city; but, without such an approach, it will probably furnish a subject for the laughter and contempt of strangers who may visit us." Despite this growing public interest, significant works to transform the lane way into what is now known as Martin Place would not be discussed in government circles until 1889, near the completion of the second stage of the GPO.
The Pitt Street extension (1874–1887) In August 1879, five years after the completion of its first stage, Barnet submitted plans for the extension of the post office. Designed to provide additional space and extend the impressive arcade further east to Pitt Street, it has since been historically noted that Barnet had conceived of this extension in as early as 1868, when stage one of the GPO was first being considered.