postoffice

The Fortitude Valley Post Office, built in 1887, is important for its ability to demonstrate the evolution of post and telegraph services in Queensland and the development of Fortitude Valley, at a time of rapid trade, commerce, industry and residential expansion in the area. The grand style and scale of the building demonstrate the prosperity of Fortitude Valley at that time.[1] The siting of the building at the corner of Ann and Ballow Streets is of interest for the controversy it caused between the government and the local residents and businesses who were preferable of the building being located closer to the business centre of Fortitude Valley. The post office is also of interest for the ancillary role it played in the distribution of social security payments of various kinds during the early 1900s, at which time it was claimed to be among the heaviest pensions-paying center in the Commonwealth. The building is a rare example of a post office composed in the Victorian Italianate style, being one of only ten such buildings designed by the Colonial Architect's Office of the Department of Public Works in that architectural form. The Fortitude Valley Post Office is particularly unusual as the only post office in Queensland to be designed and constructed with mansard-style roofs. The building's ornately detailed facade, regarded amongst the most elaborate of all post offices in Queensland, is of considerable aesthetic significance. The variety of mouldings, motifs and cast masonry decorations demonstrate a fine quality of workmanship.[1] It is of interest as an example of a post office with a combined postmaster's residence. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortitude_Valley_Post_Office

""You must have a cigarette. A cigarette is the perfect type of a perfect pleasure. It is exquisite, and it leaves one unsatisfied. What more can one want?" Oscar Wilde, from 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' (1891) Via Bradford Timeline Edit - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_%26_Ginter

Are we in Main Street? Going by the large house(s) far left, and the shadows - goo.gl/maps/dwW8Aaoyi1MRMELh7

Mr Armstrong the Printer - nominative determinism?!

love that shop window

Not far away in Kinsale and in the NLI catalogue, L_CAB_05238 was narrowed down to 1902/3 -

I don't think he liked dogs. I could see him chasing them away before he took the photo.

DannyM8 Libel!

The hats suggest about 1905-10 to me.

Several people are holding similar cards/envelopes. They might just be acting Post Officey for the camera, but maybe something was happening?

The unlinkable PRONI historical map viewer puts the PO on the Promenade, about here in Streetview.

Looking more closely, the house at right here is still standing ("CRAIGMORE"), and counting windows, the PO is No Longer Standing.