Description

MALDON

TL8507SW HIGH STREET
574-1/7/79 (North side)
21/01/94 Nos.43 AND 45
Post Office, hall to rear and
attached lantern & bracket

GV II

Literary and Mechanical Institute incorporating Corn Hall, now
post office. 1860. Yellow stock brick with dressings of stone
and white brick; hipped slate roof.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys; symmetrical 3-bay range with centre
breaking forward with pedimental gable over. Cornice of stone
corbels with pattern of raised crosses in brick between each
console. The central projecting bay has, on its 2nd floor, 4
linked windows with continuous stone sill. Moulded string
between storeys with bowtell. 1st floor has 3 linked
semicircular-arched openings, the centre a blank recess and
either side a sash window with central vertical bar in upper
sash; the recessed niche is inscribed: 'PUBLIC HALL' and has
semicircular insert of coloured marble. Below this is a stone
plaque inscribed: 'ERECTED AD MDCCCLX'. These arches are
supported on short attached columns with capitals of Ruskinian
Gothick/Byzantine type, and a frieze of similar ornament
penetrates the central niche. The ground floor has a pair of
wide door openings under semicircular arches with central
attached columns. Doors have cast-iron decorative fanlights,
one opening now infilled in matching brick slightly recessed.
Lantern on cast-iron bracket over centre. Side bays have, on
the 2nd floor, 2 semicircular-arched plain sash windows.
The 1st floors have larger linked, semicircular-arched windows
with central vertical glazing bar in upper pane, and central
attached column as elsewhere. Stone cornice above ground
floors with a wide window with segmental head and keystone.
The window openings have C20 timber windows, probably replicas
of originals. Chamfered tall stone plinth and stacks with
related detail on flank walls.
On the rear elevation is a large hall structure (former Post
Office sorting office) aligned north/south with a lower
slate-roofed link block to main building. This is of yellow
stock brick and has half-hipped slate roof but with curious
extended gablets of white weatherboarding. Each flank of hall
has 5 large segmental-arched windows within segmental-arched
recesses, each of 8 large panes. On the rear (south elevation)
is a C20 loading bay with lean-to roof.
INTERIOR: arched trusses and iron tie rods.

Listing NGR: TL8500607059

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26548327

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  [(Cumberland and Westmorland)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1967)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Somerset: South and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)