General Post Office, Sydney, Heritage post office in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia
General Post Office is a heritage post office in Martin Place, Sydney, Australia. Pale sandstone covers the exterior walls, and the facade displays columns, arches, and decorated cornices in the Italian Renaissance style.
James Barnet, the colonial architect of New South Wales, oversaw construction starting in 1866, and the project took 25 years to complete. The gradual completion reflected the growing postal traffic and the expansion of the city in the late 1800s.
The keystones of the arcade arches carry carved faces representing places across the British Empire and abroad, modelled on real people including Barnet himself, a choice that caused controversy in its day. The building now houses shops, cafés, restaurants, bars, the Westin hotel and Macquarie Bank, while Australia Post keeps a post shop at the Martin Place and George Street corner.
The main entrance sits on George Street, where counters for postal services are open daily. Visitors can walk through the open arcade and view the facade details from the street without entering the building.
The clock tower was dismantled in 1942 to make the GPO less visible to air raids and rebuilt in 1964. The keystones of the arcade arches carry carved faces representing places of the British Empire and foreign countries, modelled on real people, Barnet among them, which caused controversy at the time.
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