King Edward Building facts for kids
The King Edward Building in the City of London was London's main Post Office for most of the 20th century. It was also the main place where mail for the London EC postal area and for overseas mail was sorted. Sir Henry Tanner designed the building, which opened in 1910 and closed in the 1990s.
The building had entrances on both King Edward Street and Newgate Street. The 'London Chief Office' on King Edward Street was the biggest public post office in the whole United Kingdom.
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History of the King Edward Building
Building a New Post Office
In 1905, King Edward VII himself laid the first stone for a new Post Office building. This building was on King Edward Street. It stood across from the Post Office Headquarters building, which had opened in 1895.
The King Edward Building was designed to take over the jobs of an older Post Office headquarters, called GPO East. That old building was on St. Martin's Le Grand. The King Edward Building opened in 1910. After it opened, the old GPO East building was closed and then taken down.
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Inside the Main Office
The huge new King Edward Building was built where an old school called Christ's Hospital used to be. It was really big, covering about 4.5 acres (like 3.5 football fields!). It had lots of yards and places for trucks to load and unload mail.
The building held the main sorting offices for London's EC area and for mail going to other countries. It was also London's main public post office. Inside, the main hall on the ground floor was super fancy, with marble and bronze decorations. It had a very long post office counter that stretched across the whole room.
The floors above held the offices for the London Postal Service boss. In the basement, there was a special room where letters arrived through chutes after being posted. They then left this room on conveyor belts after being sorted a bit.
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The Sorting Office and Newgate Street
Behind the Chief Office on King Edward Street was a large sorting office building. It was also designed by Tanner. Bridges connected it to the main office over yards where mail was loaded and unloaded.
Mail for the EC district of London was sorted on the ground floor. Mail for foreign countries was sorted on the first floor. Letters arrived at the east end of the building and moved through it towards the west. The sorting office had its main entrance on Newgate Street. This entrance looked similar to the building on King Edward Street.
To the west of the sorting office was another yard. From here, mail was sent out after being sorted into bags. An empty space was left next to it for future growth. During construction, parts of the old London Wall were found here, including a strong tower. This tower was kept in its original spot.
Building Materials and Special Features
Even though it looked like it was made of Portland stone and granite, the King Edward Building was actually built using a new method called reinforced concrete. This means it was one of the very first large public buildings in the UK to use reinforced concrete.
In 1923, a statue of Sir Rowland Hill was placed outside the building on King Edward Street. Edward Onslow Ford made the statue. It had been moved from its first spot near the Royal Exchange. The statue has words carved into it that say: 'He founded uniform penny postage - 1840'. This refers to the idea of sending letters for one penny, no matter how far they went.
The King Edward Building was also one of the first stops on the Post Office Railway. This underground railway opened in 1927. It helped transport mail between different post offices.
In 1966, the National Postal Museum opened in part of the King Edward Building. A bigger museum was officially opened there by Queen Elizabeth II in 1969.
Closing Down and New Uses
The King Edward Building was used until the mid-1990s. For much of the 20th century, it offered a counter service 24 hours a day. But it closed to the public in April 1994. For two more years, it kept working as the Royal Mail City and International Office. Then, in July 1996, these jobs moved to Mount Pleasant Sorting Office. Only the Postal Museum was left on site, until it also closed two years later.
In 1997, it was confirmed that the main King Edward Building had been sold to Merrill Lynch & Co.. They turned it into their London office. Both parts of the old King Edward's Building (the London Chief Office and the Sorting Office) are now special listed buildings (Grade II*). This means they are important and protected.
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