Maryborough Post Office is a heritage-listed post office at 69 Clarendon Street, Maryborough, Victoria, Australia. It was designed by John Hudson Marsden and built in 1876-77, with the clock tower added in 1879. It was originally built as a combined court house, post and telegraph office and Colonial office, though the post office alone has occupied the building since 1892. It was added to the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List on 8 November 2011.
History
Maryborough Post Office was constructed on the site of the second government camp associated with the Maryborough gold fields, and replaced an earlier stone post office building constructed in 1858. Plans for the new building were prepared by architect John Hudson Marsden of the Department of Public Works, with construction occurring between 1877-78. The clock tower was not originally part of the design, but had presumably been added by 1879 when tenders were called for the supply of the clock. The clock's bell was cast in Castlemaine by William J. Horwood. The building was originally designed to house the court house and post office, and was built by Peter Cunningham at a cost of £9,126, far surpassing any other building in the town. The postal authorities took over the large court room in 1894, for use as the postal chamber, following the construction of a new court house adjoining the post office. The post office building forms part of Maryborough's civic precinct, comprising the post office (1877), court house and town hall (1893) and war memorial, forming three sides of the town square.
McLandress Square was developed in front of the building 1880s, with Maryborough Town Hall built on an adjoining site in 1888. Maryborough Court House was built on another adjoining site in 1892-93, at which time the court house was removed from the post office building. The former court room chamber was converted to a new postal hall in 1893-94.
Signage was added to the facade above the main entrance at some stage between 1917 and 1940. A war memorial was constructed in McLandress Square and general improvements to the private garden area undertaken in 1926. Some rear areas of the office building were refurbished with strapped plaster ceilings 1920s.
Further works took place 1940s-1960s. A freestanding brick amenities building and bike shed was constructed behind post office and the rear yard terraced and concrete-paved. A small single-storey rear addition at the southwest corner of the building was possibly constructed at this time, as was a small porch and a single toilet block on the southern side of the building. The construction of the toilet block necessitated the bricking in of a single window in the projecting wing behind it and the creation of a door opening providing access from the offices. Bollards were installed in the driveway in front of the main entrance. Private letter boxes were installed in lieu of the former post office loggia windows. External fixtures and fittings included oil tanks for heating, fluorescent light fittings and possibly two freestanding structures to the south of the building for public telephones and private bicycles [since demolished]. Internal alterations to the post office included widening of openings between the large rear rooms to the southwest of the former court room and the general refurbishment of these spaces. It would appear that the dividing walls between the offices along the southern side of the court room were demolished and new stud-framed walls were constructed to re-partition the offices. A glazed timber screen was installed between these offices and the back rooms and a door opening was created between the offices and the new toilet block to the south. General internal refurbishment included fluorescent light fittings, vinyl floor coverings, replacement of door hardware and furniture, overpainting of joinery, and fireplaces were generally either infilled or fitted with oil heaters and textured brick surrounds.
Alterations to the quarters in the 1960s included the infill of the rear verandah, installation of a toilet in the laundry wing, refurbishment of the kitchen and bathroom, installation of oil heaters and brick surrounds to living room and front bedroom (first floor sitting room), overpainting of joinery, wallpapering of some rooms and possibly replacement of some original ceilings with sheet plaster ceilings and stepped plaster cornices. large detached automated telephone exchange building was constructed on the site to the rear of the post office at an unknown date. The date of the electrification of the clock is also unknown.