I can’t understand why I hadn’t come across the Post Building before, but I have now and could hardly wait to share my experience with you.
Located in Holborn, it definitely comes under the heading of ‘hidden gems’ but one’s first challenge is finding the entrance – I walked past it twice. The address is 29–31 New Oxford Street WC1A 1BA but the signage, to say the least, does not exactly stand out. Here’s a very helpful image about location from Katie Wignall’s excellent blog …
It’s free to go up to the building’s roof garden any time Monday to Friday between 10am and 4pm. You can’t prebook — just stroll in and speak to the receptionist. You’ll need to sign in, read a set of rules, go through a security screen and show a form of ID, but it’s quick and painless, and worth the reward. The weather was really poor when I visited so occasionally I will be using images from other blogs which I shall credit at the end of this edition.
As you exit the lift on the ninth floor, the view over to Bloomsbury and Fitzrovia opens up in front of you …
Directly ahead is the very odd steeple of St George’s Bloomsbury, made famous in Hogarth’s etching of Gin Lane. It’s based on one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World — the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus — and is topped by a statue of George I …
Gin Lane, 1751, with the steeple in the background …
Behind it is the green dome of the British Museum …
It’s surrounded by the glass cushion of its Great Court, which looks like this from the inside …
The London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and a glimpse of Big Ben …
The Shell Centre and the facade of the Royal Opera House. The Crystal Palace Transmitting Station antenna is in the distance to the left of the London Eye …
Looking east – such a shame it was a miserable cloudy day …
You can see all the way to Canary Wharf – St Paul’s just about holds its own against the 21st century City. Say a prayer of thanks to the enlightened planners who insisted on protected views …
Barbican towers line up …
Typical Victorian mansion flats …
Incidentally, walking down Bloomsbury Way and heading for the Post Building, I had to admire the fact that the Victorians took the trouble to create a decorative brick pattern for the side of this building …
The number of chimneys speak of a coal fire in every room.
The BT Tower has been bought by an American hotel group. I hope they reopen the revolving restaurant …
You can find the Tower’s story along with some great images here.
Parts of the Post Building roof garden …
The deveolpment has been described as ‘a radical transformation of a 1960s Royal Mail sorting office into a modern, mixed-use commercial space, completed by AHMM architects. Originally, the site served as a major, partly derelict, postal hub, also connected to the underground Mail Rail network. The redevelopment now houses offices, retail, and public spaces’.
Built in 1911 and covering over 6 miles under London, the Mail Rail worked 22 hours a day shuttling letters and parcels 70ft below the city. You can read more about it here and walk through the former tunnels here.
In the entrance for the rooftop there’s a map of the Mail Rail with the former station circled …
But there’s an even cooler addition in the entrance lobby. A surviving spiral chute which eased the heavy lifting on staff and made the process more efficient!
I loved the colour …
On the wall is an infographic explaining the process of sorting letters and parcels …
My thanks for some of the images to The Londonist, Ian Visits and Katie Wignall of Look Up London.
Onward to Novelty Automation in Princeton Street, WC1R 4AX.
What an extraordinary place …
It was a bit too crowded at lunchtime to take good images so I’ll return again a bit earlier in the day.
Finally, more little yellow flowers to cheer us up …
And isn’t it nice when construction companies put up hanging baskets on their hoardings …
They might be a bit tricky to water though.
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