Bassendean Post Office

Statement of Significance

• The place has aesthetic value as a restrained example of the Inter War Stripped Classical style. • The place has historic value for its association with a period of rapid development in the district • The place has social value as it was a service which was accessed by all members of the community for many decades.

Physical Description

A single storey red brick and terracotta tiled building of asymmetric plan form to the façade with a covered centrally positioned entry point. A shallow pitched hipped roof extends over the main part of the building with a further hipped form to the front projecting section. The windows are 8-over-8 timber framed sashes to both sections of the façade with a larger non-original shop window adjacent to the entrance in the recessed section of the façade. The projecting section of the façade is divided into three bays, each with a sash window and separated by a brick pilaster. Each window is recessed in its own brick panel. A roughcast rendered strip extends across the façade below the eaves to the top of the windows. The main section of the façade also incorporates a narrow 4-paned casement at each corner. A secondary entrance is located in a covered porch at the western end of the façade with tiled concrete steps and ramped access. The west elevation is predominately roughcast render with brick dado below the three sash windows.

History

The Bassendean town centre was established and laid out as an extension of Guildford townsite in the 1840s but it was not until the 1890s that the town developed rapidly with the influx of workers during the gold boom period. The West Guildford Road Board was formed in 1901 which became the Bassendean Road Board in 1922, in recognition of one of the first farms in the district ‘Bassendean’ established by the First Colonial Secretary, Peter Broun. The town developed on either side of what was called the Perth Road and later, Guildford Road, which logically connected Perth to Guildford. This portion of the road name was changed to ‘Old Perth Road’ in the 1970s when Guildford Road was realigned. The Bassendean Post Office was completed in 1923 for a cost of approximately £1485 and opened by the Premier Sir James Mitchell K.C.M.G. on 22 September 1923 with an audience of dignitaries attending. The local press noted in the coverage of the event that the provision of the new post office was essential for the growing industry in the area. The progress of which was ‘a result of the energetic people, the position of the town and a sympathetic government’. The first Post Mistress was Mrs Chambers and the builder was George Fairbanks Jnr. A new Exchange Building was constructed at the rear in 1950 and the premises were extended in 1971. A new post office was subsequently opened in the Bassendean Shopping Centre and postal services ceased at this facility c1997. Since that time it has been used for a variety of retail functions.

Integrity/Authenticity

Moderate High

Condition

Good

Uses

Historic Themes

Creation Date

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