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Cronulla Post Office
Cronulla Post Office is a heritage-listed post office at 41 Cronulla Street, Cronulla, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Edwin Hubert Henderson of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways and built in 1924. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 August 2012.
The local area was known as "Cronulla Beaches" from the early decades of the nineteenth century, but remained largely undeveloped. In the 1860s Thomas Holt acquired a large part of the future shire, and placed tenant farmers on the land. Sutherland Shire was proclaimed in 1906, but by World War I the area remained semi rural in character. The population began to increase after this period, and with a large population increase following World War II, Cronulla became more suburban in character.
The first post office in Cronulla opened in 1891 in the Oriental Hotel with Clara Springall as postmistress. A purpose-built post office was erected in 1900, which was replaced in 1924 by the current substantial Cronulla Post Office. This building, originally comprising a post office, residence and telephone exchange, was designed by architect Edwin Hubert Henderson of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways.
Cronulla Post Office is at 41 Cronulla Street, Cronulla, located on part of lots 12 and 13 in DP 5709. Cronulla Street is the main shopping precinct in the original suburban development of Cronulla, with the Cronulla railway station nearby and the main beaches to the immediate east. Cronulla Street has been turned into a mall outside the post office, which sits on a deep allotment. The post office and quarters open onto Cronulla Street at the front, and a back yard area contains timber and metal-clad outbuildings/additions of more recent origin including a former bicycle storage shed. An ablutions block that formerly occupied the rear yard has been removed. The rear yard and the driveway to the south of the post office has been paved in bitumen.
The building comprises a single-storey postal hall to the street frontage with a recessed two-storey wing behind, housing the original quarters upstairs and the mail, sorting and service rooms below. The facade was formed in the well-established Queensland, and then Commonwealth, arrangement of a projecting "solid" breakfront for the public post office area, set between two hollow bay porch components at ground level. The first floor then inverted the pattern with a central columned balcony recessed between two flanking bays with one window to each.
The exterior walling was in a standard Sydney face brick. The postal hall was marked out from its flanking porch components by two rusticated brick piers, a recognisably Commonwealth architectural motif. These piers between the end bays and the centrally placed group of three windows to the ground floor, have narrow windows covered by a saltire cross motif formed as a metal grille across them. The three central windows to the postal hall were framed by four quasi-pilasters, using face brick shafts and stucco-rendered Tuscan capitals. These complement the six timber posts that flank the recessed balcony immediately above and support the entablature. The window-heads and balcony lintel are all surmounted by two moulded stucco friezes running across each storey, with the lower forming a plate for the Post Office label. The windows are all double-hung sashes with multipaned upper lights and tilted brick sills. The upper sash of the end bay at south has had its glazing bars removed to fit an electric exhaust fan.
Both flanking porch bays have been filled in with brick and with a timber framed window matching those on the postal hall front. The porches internally have been incorporated to form part of the retail space. Another door opening, on the ground floor south elevation, has also been infilled. A flagpole is fixed to the wall, adjacent to the former south porch. It was fitted after the building was completed. The original side gates have been replaced with unsympathetic mock-Victorian aluminium gates. The bicycle shed and store in the back yard are of recent origin.
The roof of the first floor is a hipped timber frame. The lower roof is flat and concealed behind a parapet and forms the floor of the upstairs balcony. The roofing here is believed to be asbestos sheeting. The rear (west) roofing was in two hipped trailing wings, the northern wing having an addition on the ground level. A rear balcony on the upper floor, between the trailing wings has been infilled in timber and casement windows. The ground floor interior retains little original fabric, and there is a standard post shop retail fitout with modern shelving units, and a suspended ceiling form. The first floor quarters retains most of its original fabric including two timber fireplaces, doors, architraves and joinery including polished timber stair balusters as well as a large panelled timber cabinet at the top of the stairs. The original planning on the first floor has been altered in places through the partial removal of walls and the insertion of new door openings.
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Cronulla Post Office
Cronulla Post Office is a heritage-listed post office at 41 Cronulla Street, Cronulla, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Edwin Hubert Henderson of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways and built in 1924. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 22 August 2012.
The local area was known as "Cronulla Beaches" from the early decades of the nineteenth century, but remained largely undeveloped. In the 1860s Thomas Holt acquired a large part of the future shire, and placed tenant farmers on the land. Sutherland Shire was proclaimed in 1906, but by World War I the area remained semi rural in character. The population began to increase after this period, and with a large population increase following World War II, Cronulla became more suburban in character.
The first post office in Cronulla opened in 1891 in the Oriental Hotel with Clara Springall as postmistress. A purpose-built post office was erected in 1900, which was replaced in 1924 by the current substantial Cronulla Post Office. This building, originally comprising a post office, residence and telephone exchange, was designed by architect Edwin Hubert Henderson of the Commonwealth Department of Works and Railways.
Cronulla Post Office is at 41 Cronulla Street, Cronulla, located on part of lots 12 and 13 in DP 5709. Cronulla Street is the main shopping precinct in the original suburban development of Cronulla, with the Cronulla railway station nearby and the main beaches to the immediate east. Cronulla Street has been turned into a mall outside the post office, which sits on a deep allotment. The post office and quarters open onto Cronulla Street at the front, and a back yard area contains timber and metal-clad outbuildings/additions of more recent origin including a former bicycle storage shed. An ablutions block that formerly occupied the rear yard has been removed. The rear yard and the driveway to the south of the post office has been paved in bitumen.
The building comprises a single-storey postal hall to the street frontage with a recessed two-storey wing behind, housing the original quarters upstairs and the mail, sorting and service rooms below. The facade was formed in the well-established Queensland, and then Commonwealth, arrangement of a projecting "solid" breakfront for the public post office area, set between two hollow bay porch components at ground level. The first floor then inverted the pattern with a central columned balcony recessed between two flanking bays with one window to each.
The exterior walling was in a standard Sydney face brick. The postal hall was marked out from its flanking porch components by two rusticated brick piers, a recognisably Commonwealth architectural motif. These piers between the end bays and the centrally placed group of three windows to the ground floor, have narrow windows covered by a saltire cross motif formed as a metal grille across them. The three central windows to the postal hall were framed by four quasi-pilasters, using face brick shafts and stucco-rendered Tuscan capitals. These complement the six timber posts that flank the recessed balcony immediately above and support the entablature. The window-heads and balcony lintel are all surmounted by two moulded stucco friezes running across each storey, with the lower forming a plate for the Post Office label. The windows are all double-hung sashes with multipaned upper lights and tilted brick sills. The upper sash of the end bay at south has had its glazing bars removed to fit an electric exhaust fan.
Both flanking porch bays have been filled in with brick and with a timber framed window matching those on the postal hall front. The porches internally have been incorporated to form part of the retail space. Another door opening, on the ground floor south elevation, has also been infilled. A flagpole is fixed to the wall, adjacent to the former south porch. It was fitted after the building was completed. The original side gates have been replaced with unsympathetic mock-Victorian aluminium gates. The bicycle shed and store in the back yard are of recent origin.
The roof of the first floor is a hipped timber frame. The lower roof is flat and concealed behind a parapet and forms the floor of the upstairs balcony. The roofing here is believed to be asbestos sheeting. The rear (west) roofing was in two hipped trailing wings, the northern wing having an addition on the ground level. A rear balcony on the upper floor, between the trailing wings has been infilled in timber and casement windows. The ground floor interior retains little original fabric, and there is a standard post shop retail fitout with modern shelving units, and a suspended ceiling form. The first floor quarters retains most of its original fabric including two timber fireplaces, doors, architraves and joinery including polished timber stair balusters as well as a large panelled timber cabinet at the top of the stairs. The original planning on the first floor has been altered in places through the partial removal of walls and the insertion of new door openings.