The old central Post Office still dominates the east side of High Street, one of the city’s finest survivors from a bygone era.
Local builder Henry Cawte built the magnificent three-storey Post Office in 1892 in an ornate Flemish style.
Rich red brickwork, terracotta detailing and three elaborate pediments made the building impossible to miss.
As Southampton’s docks expanded their global reach, the city needed a communications hub to match its growing importance.
Before then, Southampton’s postal service had moved between increasingly inadequate premises.
Old Post Office in Southampton High Street. (Image: Echo)
The service began in Butcher Row before moving to French Street in 1828 and Hanover Buildings by 1850.
The 1892 building finally gave Southampton a post office worthy of its growing status.
The exterior carried an Imperial crown, Royal initials and the borough arms, while the interior featured a lift running from the basement to the top floor.
The vast public counter area had manufactured Silex stone and herringbone oak flooring, showing the scale of Victorian civic pride.
Today, the building recalls an age when mail sorting and telegraph messages filled its rooms.
The Post Office left the 1892 building at 57-58 High Street in August 1999.
Old Post Office in Southampton High Street. (Image: Echo)
Although the building remained Southampton’s Head Post Office until 1999, its public counters moved next door to 59 High Street shortly after the Second World War.
The public office closed in the early 1990s. Sorting and administrative work ended in August 1999, after which the 1892 building was redeveloped into the residential apartments and retail spaces that occupy it today.
In 2016, Chapel Properties proposed converting the empty building into two studio flats, two two-bedroom flats and a new commercial unit.
Those terracotta details still evoke the telegrams, love letters and historic dispatches that once passed through its doors.
Do you have memories, photographs or family stories about the old central Post Office? Share them in the comments or email ian.crump@dailyecho.co.uk