Ponsonby Post Office
General information
Architectural style	Edwardian Baroque
Location	1-3 St Marys Bay Road, Ponsonby, Auckland
Country	New Zealand
Coordinates	36°50′50″S 174°44′41″E / 36.84723936313432°S 174.7445847003885°E / -36.84723936313432; 174.7445847003885
Construction started	1912
Cost	£3700
Design and construction
Architect(s)	John Campbell
Heritage New Zealand – Category 1
Designated	7-July-1987
Reference no.	628

The Ponsonby Post Office is a Heritage New Zealand Category 1 Historic Place. It is the former post office for the suburb of Ponsonby, and is located in Three Lamps area of Ponsonby.^[1]

History

It was designed by the Government Architect, John Campbell, and built by L McKinstry.^[1] It cost £3700, half of which was contributed by the residents of Ponsonby.^[1]

On 13 March 1920 the Postmaster Augustus Braithwaite was murdered in his home.^[2] His keys were then used to rob the Post Office.^[2] Dennis Gunn was found guilty of Braithwaite's murder and was executed in June 1920.^[3] This was possibly the first time that a capital crime had been prosecuted with the accused identified entirely by fingerprint evidence.^[4]

Ponsonby Post and Telegraph Office, photograph taken between 1912 and 1930 by William Archer Price

It was considered as an earthquake risk in the 1940s and the clocktower and building was saved from demolition.^[4] In the 1970s, there were concerns again, and $11,000 worth of renovations were undertaken.^[4] Auckland Council sold the post office in 1992 to Portmain Properties.^[4] Auckland Council continued to lease the property until 2002 as a post office.^[4] It was then sold again in 2003.^[4]

Since 2002, there have been several businesses that have leased the space. In 2004, it was converted into a drinking establishment, Belgian Beer Cafe, which led to a Malcolm Walker cartoon of the post office as a burlesque dancer appearing in the Bay News.^[5] The building was sold again in 2013 for $4.86 million.^[6] At the end of their ten year lease, the Belgian Beer Cafe left the ground floor.^[6] The building was then put back on the market in 2014, eighteen months later, with the ground floor empty and the upper floor leased to a medical practice.^[6]

It most recently sold in June 2016 for $5 million.^[7] Since 2020, Hotel Ponsonby, a bar, bistro and beer garden, have been based in the ground floor of the building.^[8]

Architecture

The building is described as a "very free, idiosyncratic example of Edwardian Baroque architecture."^[1] It sits at the corner of Saint Marys Rd and College Hill with the entrance being at the apex of the triangular site.^[1] It was constructed using brick walls with a cement finish on the ground floor, and pressed brick walls with cement dressing.^[1] The interior walls are finished in Keene's cement and Rimu for the woodwork.^[1]

In 1913, the building was modified to add a clock and to heighten the clock tower which sits over the entrance façade.^[1] Above the entrance there is a large broken pediment with the royal coat of arms.^[1] It is one of the best preserved Edwardian post offices in New Zealand.^[1] It is, however, described as somewhat ill-proportioned.^[1]

References

External links

Media related to Ponsonby Post Office (former) at Wikimedia Commons