Heritage Post Office

Last week’s whirlwind trip to Saskatchewan provided my most interesting business trip yet. We got the go-ahead to conduct a condition assessment of a heritage Canadian Post Office building. Well, the top two floors at least. I’m not sure if there are any privacy considerations involved (probably not; after all it is a building owned by a national corporation), but just to be on the safe side I’m not going to reveal the town it’s in. Suffice it to say that my descriptor of “whirlwind” encompassed an 18 hour day from arrival to YVR in the morning to my return to YVR tarmac at 11:30 pm that evening.

The building itself was constructed in 1911. It’s a brick walled structure with a flat roof and a metal-clad mansard skirt with dormers. Oh, and a clock tower! Pretty cool, although presently non-functional. 

The top two floors have been dis-continued from service quite some years ago for reasons unknown. Now the Post Office wants to rehabilitate them for rental revenue (I assume). The biggest issue has been water damage over time. The top floor is a mess from water damage. But from an artistic standpoint it makes for some really cool images.

Second storey

Third storey

The central staircase is in really good condition.

Another cool but unusual feature for a post office (again I assume: would a post office normally have a vault?) is the inclusion of vaults. There are three; one in the basement, one on the main floor and one on the second. So obviously the building was designed to feature some sort of banking capability. 

This is the vault door on the second floor. The brick wall is visible through the cut-away beside the light switch panel.

Here's the clock face viewed from within the clock tower.

The bell within the clock tower is secured to a large timber as a storage measure.

Aged metal panels adorn the clock tower.