Other

GPO architectural sculpture

Erection date: 2004

Inscription

GPO
1690 - 1951

Immediately north of this panel are 7 other similar architectural panels relating to the Bankers Clearing House which was also on this site.

Site: GPO plaque and architectural sculpture (2 memorials)

EC4, King William Street, Post Office Court

The plaque is in this passageway close to the entrance photographed.  The sculpture panel is further in, attached to the wall on the left, the boundary wall with St Mary Woolnoth.

Before the Great Fire of London Sir Robert Vyner had a large house here giving on to Abchurch Lane and Lombard Street, and it is known that, after the fire, the GPO moved here from a site in Bishopsgate Street, either rebuilding or re-purposing Vyner's house. This c.1894 map shows the “Site of old General Post Office” and also a current (1894) “Post Office” stretching between Lombard Street and King William Street. 

In 1829 the GPO departed for St-Martin's-le-Grand and left behind a branch PO which remained until the 1990s. Perhaps what happened in 1951 is that the last remaining fragment of the old GPO buildings was demolished and replaced.

Alamy have an illustration of "The old Post Office in Lombard Street about 1800" showing it tight up against St Mary Woolnoth. Drawings of this type were often created when it was known that the old building was about to be demolished.

Getty have an image "late 19th early 20th century" which looks more contemporaneous with the sculpture but it is very plain with no decorative architectural features visible. It probably shows the open space that can be seen on the map.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
GPO architectural sculpture

Subjects commemorated i

General Post Office

The first general post office in London opened in 1643, after King Charles I ...

Read More

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
GPO architectural sculpture

Also at this site i

General Post Office plaque

General Post Office plaque

The General Post Office moved from Bishopsgate Street to a building on this s...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Stoke Newington Common

Stoke Newington Common

N16, Northwold Road, Stoke Newington Common

Erected c.2000.

1 subject commemorated
Hardy's tree

Hardy's tree

NW1, Pancras Road, St Pancras Gardens

Not strictly a memorial but irresistible to include. As railway lines were constructed through densely built-up parts of London, they of...

1 subject commemorated
Queen Elizabeth's Oak

Queen Elizabeth's Oak

SE10, Greenwich Park

The old tree is presumably gradually being decomposed by beetles and the like. The new tree may be the one to the far right of our picture.

4 subjects commemorated, 2 creators
St Marys Newington - Gratton

St Marys Newington - Gratton

SE1, Newington Butts, Garden

Three churches and two clock towers have been built on this site, but nothing remains today. A modern information board (which you can se...

1 subject commemorated
Virtues - Open Mind

Virtues - Open Mind

WC2, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery - Staircase Hall - North Vestibule

Earl Jowitt, in his Lord Chancellor robes and wig, raises both hands, palms towards us. Behind him stand two carved figures: that on the ...

1 subject commemorated

Previously viewed

Alfred the Great - Lewisham

Alfred the Great - Lewisham

SE13, Lewisham High Street, 199 - 201, Lewisham Library

The dates on the plaque differ from those usually given: date of birth varies but date of death is normally given as 26 October 899. We c...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
C. Menniss

C. Menniss

J. Lyons & Co. Ltd. staff member who died in WW2.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW2
1 memorial
Nathan David

Nathan David

Sculptor, F.R.B.S. Active in 2004.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
John Arnold

John Arnold

Watchmaker and inventor. Probably born in Bodmin, Cornwall (his birth year is approximate). After being apprenticed to his clockmaker father, he worked in the Netherlands. He was the first to desig...

Person, Craft / Design, Netherlands

1 memorial
Marcus Cornish

Marcus Cornish

Sculptor. Other work in London includes the 2001 'Stag' in St James's Square.

Person, Sculpture

3 memorials