Court House, Toowoomba, c1880
Post Office and Court House, Margaret Street, Toowoomba, c 1880
From the Queensland Heritage Register
The Toowoomba Post Office, of which construction was completed in 1880, is one of three extant post offices built in the Classic Revival Style, with the other two at Maryborough (1866) and central Brisbane (1871). The fourth building of this type was at Dalby (1867), but is now demolished.
Tenders for a new building to house both the Post and Telegraph offices adjacent to the new courthouse were called in 1877. The tender of John Gargett (also the contractor for the adjacent Court House and Mayor of Toowoomba) for £7250 was accepted. The original tender was for a building constructed of bond brick, however this was later altered to allow for the front tower and one wing (the Court House side) in cut stone at a new price of £8100. The stone used was pale yellow sandstone quarried from Highfields and was similar to that used in the construction of the courthouse, also quarried from Highfields. The new building opened in 1880,
The Toowoomba Post Office is a typical example of the Classical Revival style of architecture popular during this period and forms part of a government precinct which includes the Court House and Police Station. This was a frequent occurrence due to the Queensland Colonial Government's practice of acquiring, or retaining for itself, land suitable for government uses.
It also has special associations with Government architect F D G Stanley who was responsible for the design and construction of Queensland post offices from 1872 - 1880.
Then and now...
You might also like
Location of this image
View Larger Map | See more historic photographs
- Category
- Time period
- Persistent identifierImage ID 15602
- Queensland State Archive series linkSeries ID 192, Photographic Black and White Negatives of Queensland Industry, Services, Views, People and Events
- Queensland State Archives digital image linkDigital Image ID 15602