Temora Post Office

The Post Office building is an asymmetrical design with two corner towers, each with a broad arched opening at its base and battered in from a plinth. The plinth is capped with a string course of painted cant bricks (also used at Quirindi). The building has been built in stretcher bond, with mottled, dark pink/brown bricks. Wall vents are cast, with a crown emblem, commonly used in government buildings. Elsewhere there are terracotta "egg-crate" form vents.[1]

The right (southeast) tower has plain corners; the left (northwest) tower has piers at each corner. Both are crossed by string courses at the arch springing points and at the first floor line. A third string course runs through around waist level on the first floor, marking a change to roughcast stucco on the right tower and the brick base for a bullseye window on the left, originally intended to house a clock, the rear works of which would evidently have projected into one of the quarters rooms.[2] The left tower is sheeted in roughcast stucco above the bullseye and its base, and the roof is pyramidal with flared hips. There is a series of ten, slender wrought iron diagonal struts supporting a "flying" timber plate. The struts are wrought in an Art Nouveau pattern. The roofing tiles are English pattern, and the gutters are quad profile, copper, and mounted on square dressed fascia boards without detail.[1]

The eaves are boxed to conceal the rafters, and lined with a flat sheet, possibly an early example of asbestos-cement sheeting. The left tower has a "bulls-eye" round window comprising nine panes of glass. The left tower has a simple open stilted arch for the main entry. There are non-original concrete steps with a steel handrail giving access to the main entry porch and some of the facility's post boxes. The porch has a tiled floor and a painted timber ceiling. Entry doors are timber framed, and primarily glazed and located in the south wall of the porch. They broadly match the entry doors at the right-hand side of the façade. There is a surviving eight-pane transom window above. These doors are adjoined by the later disabled access ramp access which has been installed in front of the building, infilling the recessed middle bay of the building. The ramp structure apparently conceals the building's foundation stone.[1]

The right tower has no roof struts and is marked by two simply indented square-headed windows. The ground floor arches are also related, both being crowned by six or seven rows of headers, but are at differing heights and treated differently inside each arch. The right tower arch is combined with a window whose glazing bars denote a door fanlight, upper sidelight windows and line up vertically with a cut in the brick wall to either side of its double door.[1]

The recessed middle bay houses the former postal hall at ground floor level and the open verandah of the quarters above. The postal hall has three brick segmental- headed double-hung sash windows, embedded in a broad, shallow and slanted sill. The stiles of the upper sash are tapered. The first floor verandah is divided by two tapering piers that directly support a light fascia and balcony roof, treated as integral with the main roof behind and above it. The stuccoed piers reflect the Federation bungalow fashion emerging at this time. The openings are screened with mesh to exclude birds. The side elevations are equally varied, with a chamfered bay on the southeast elevation and a straight fronted gable on the northwest elevation. The three main chimneys are irregularly placed in the upper roof hips, and are given a strongly arts and crafts flavour, the stacks being tapered and clad in roughcast stucco, then topped with long, tapering terra cotta pots. There is a fascia and boxed eaves to conceal rafters at the roof edges, and the eave soffits are boarded and raked at the same angle as the roof above.[1]

To the west elevation a projecting bay with tall sash windows to the angled faces are of face brick with contrasting, terracotta coloured brick quoins. Immediately behind there is a side access door to the stairhall and thus to the former quarters. It has a slate threshold and step. The stair window is leadlight in an art-Nouveau design. There are copper gutters, spouts and downpipes which feed into cast iron downpipes about 2 metres from ground level. Brick sills have been rendered and painted. They finish flush, and do not extend over the wall to form a drip mould.[1]

At the rear of the building there is a door to the laundry with a distinctive, pressed metal hood. The door is ledged and sheeted. There is a timber weatherboard garden shed in the garden, and a steel /timber carport. More recently a kit-type zincalume garden shed has been added. The garden is surrounded by timber and corrugated iron fences on a brick base. There are several surviving bullnose brick retaining walls.[1]

The rear of the post office yard is paved with concrete and asphalt. There is a steel canopy to protect delivery trucks, and a small zincalume shed which once sheltered bicycles. Under the canopy is a steel loading ramp, leading to a roller shutter to the delivery room. The delivery room is an addition to the sorting room.[1]

To the east elevation, alterations have occurred to allow the introduction of additional post boxes. There is a raised concrete platform to give access, fitted with a steel handrail, and aluminium awnings for protection. One set of boxes have been inserted into a former window aperture, and the brickwork above has been patched.[1]

The sorting room is a single storey structure, under a gabled roof with a brick parapet. It has Marseilles-pattern roof tiles exposed rafters, quad gutter and rectangular downpipes. The eaves are timber lined, and there is painted netting between the rafters. The windows are double hung, with a transom, and fitted with "amplimesh" aluminium screens.[1]

The general office (main chamber) has been upgraded to provide modern retail and a range of postal services. It has carpet over a timber floor, and modern joinery and retail displays. Many original elements survive, such as windows, strapped ceilings, consoles, an arch and chamfered plaster nibs. The ceiling is a modern, suspended type, and conceals air conditioning ducts and services.[1]

The main chamber is divided from the service areas by modern plasterboard partition walls. The postal box filling room has vinyl flooring over timber, plaster walls, original double hung windows, a strapped plaster ceiling and a distinctive concrete column to support the upper floor.[1]

The sorting room is housed in a single storey wing. There are original timber framed multi paned sash windows with transoms to the west wall. Some of the glazing bars have been removed to the transoms have been altered. The room has a distinctive cornice.[1]

The Post Master's Office is located in the projecting bay to the east side of the building. It has two double hung sash windows and a corner fireplace which has been sealed. One of its two doors has been replaced with a flush panel door and splayed architraves. The other door, leading to the stairwell is a four-panel door, and has an ogee pattern architrave which is original. A suspended ceiling has been installed.[1]

The rear office is formed with plasterboard partitions and remnants of earlier decorative plaster detailing are visible.[1]

The stationery storeroom room retains its small double-hung window and its timber ceiling with v-jointed boards and Edwardian painted timber cornice. It has four brick walls, with a sealed arch and 2 unused doorways. One leads up to the adjacent kitchen.[1]

The kitchen contains a sealed fireplace and a 1950s vintage sink bench. There are built-in cupboards next to the chimney breast. The door has been replaced with a flush leaf. The plaster walls include a 'dado. The original double hung window is extant within the space.[1]

The laundry has a concrete floor covered in vinyl. Walls are of painted brick and the entry door is braced and ledged. The ceiling is painted, v-jointed boards and has a manhole. The double hung window has an elongated bottom sash.[1]

The kitchen adjoins an enclosed verandah with a raked timber ceiling and concrete floor. The original posts are visible between the glass louvres and painted "infill" studwork. This appears to be of 1950s construction. There is one unused exit door, and another door leading to the toilets outside. The toilets are housed in a separate building with a timber frame and asbestos cement linings. It has a coved concrete floor and raked ceiling under a gable roof and fixed louvre windows, cast-iron basins, braced and ledged doors and simple timber details.[1]

Much of the interior is painted in a grey colour scheme, but there is evidence of an earlier cream scheme.[1]

The building is in sound condition, although there are instances of the effects of salt damp. There are some roof tiles which have slipped. Some exterior painted surfaces need attention. Some of the interior displays routine wear and tear. The level of intactness is comparatively good given age and changes in use. There are effects of rising damp in some areas.[1]

• GS Warmington and AC Ward et al., Australia Post Survey of Historic Properties in New South Wales, Volume 3, 1990
• Australian National Estate, The Heritage of Australia, Melbourne: Macmillan, 1981
• Temora Heritage Inventory; Savills, APPD Property Valuation Report, June 2005
• Historical notes, Temora Shire Council website.

This Wikipedia article was originally based on Temora Post Office, entry number 106129 in the Australian Heritage Database published by the Commonwealth of Australia 2018 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 21 September 2018.