Brooklyn Post Office Building (Former), garage and sheds

• 1913 - 1914
• 1913 - drawings prepared. 1914 - building opened.
• 1987 - 1987
• Conversion to residential use – SR8680696
• 1993 - 1993
• Drainage and earthworks – SR2781
• c.1999 - 2005
• Health licence for a The Simply Food Catering Company Ltd – SR 53063

Not assessed

Not assessed

The former Brooklyn Post Office stands four-square on the corner of Cleveland Street and a small side street, Jefferson Street, at the beginning of the rise at the eastern end of Brooklyn’s main shopping area. It has some townscape value because of its location and its forthright character and its position in a setting that remains relatively original. It has group value in the context of the predominantly low-rise old commercial buildings along Cleveland Street.

It is a two-storey building, with features typical of many post offices built in the Edwardian period in suburban and small town locations throughout New Zealand. The exterior walls are finished in rough-cast cement render laid over expanded metal laths on a timber structural frame. A smooth band of render acts as a string course and denotes the first floor level. The exterior joinery is timber, generally consisting of double-hung timber sliding sashes, with the top sash divided into 9 lights, the bottom sash in a single light, set flush with the wall face and trimmed with large timber facings.

The architectural emphasis is on the front façade. The central section of this façade steps forward from the main wall line and terminates in a stepped parapet which breaks the line of the main roof. The central section is decorated with pairs of Doric pilasters which frame a semi-circular headed window (divided into six sections, with multi-pane glazing) on the ground floor and a pair of double-hung windows on the first floor, each with both sashes divided into 9 lights. On either side of the facade there is a door to the ground floor, with a six-light glazed panel and a window to the first floor. The roof is hipped, sheathed in corrugated iron, with open eaves all around with the rafter ends and sarking exposed. A tall chimney on the east side, still with its moulded capping and chimney pots, adds an interesting asymmetry to the composition.

While the interior of the building has been substantially modified for its new accommodation (now residential) use, the exterior form and detail remains highly authentic.

Overall, the building and setting retains a high level of authenticity and interest and makes a strong contribution to the character of the local streetscape.

Render on expanded metal lath over timber structure

Timber doors and windows

Corrugated mild steel roof

The former Brooklyn Post Office site contains, in addition to the main building, a variety of interesting outbuildings, including a very old single garage, a sleep-out, modern in appearance but possibly quite old, and a contemporary shed. There are several mature trees and a six-foot timber fence. A large, and probably original, pohutukawa overhangs the site on the Jefferson Street side.

The building sits just at the top of the “bowl” that contains the Brooklyn shops and represents a corner-stone of the original suburb. The land rises, fairly sharply, to the north and east and falls gently to the south and west. The adjoining buildings are principally two-storey residential, mostly old, along both streets; across the road and to the west the buildings are a mixture of modern and old two-storey commercial buildings. The former Post Office makes an important positive contribution to, and is enhanced by this setting, and helps confer a strong sense of historical authenticity on this part of Brooklyn.

• Architectural

  Does the item have architectural or artistic value for characteristics that may include its design, style, era, form, scale, materials, colour, texture, patina of age, quality of space, craftsmanship, smells, and sounds?

  The former Brooklyn Post Office is a good representative example of an early 20th century public building constructed in the early years of the development of the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn. The building is notable for its rough cast rendered finish, wide overhanging eaves, and for the composition of its Cleveland Street façade with the prominent central bay set over a carefully proportioned arched timber window.

• Townscape

  Does the item have townscape value for the part it plays in defining a space or street; providing visual interest; its role as a landmark; or the contribution it makes to the character and sense of place of Wellington?

  The building is a local landmark for its size (two-stories in an area where single storey dwellings predominate), architecture, and location (a prominent corner site at the eastern end of the Brooklyn’s centre, opposite the bus turn-around and the Brooklyn library.

• Association

  Is the item associated with an important person, group, or organisation?

  The building was used as a suburban Post Office for over 75 years and has an association with the early years of the development of suburban Brooklyn.

• Archaeological

  Does the item have archaeological value for its ability to provide scientific information about past human activity?

  The site is likely to have been occupied pre-1900

• Identity/Sense Of Place/Continuity

  Is the item a focus of community, regional, or national identity? Does the item contribute to sense of place or continuity?

  The building has had few intrusive modern alterations or additions and contributes to the sense of place and continuity of suburban Brooklyn.

• Authentic

  Does the item have authenticity or integrity because it retains significant fabric from the time of its construction or from later periods when important additions or modifications were carried out?

  Although the internal fit out of the original post office has been removed, the exterior of the building has had few intrusive modern alterations or additions and retains much of its original built fabric.

• Rare

  Is the item rare, unique, unusual, seminal, influential, or outstanding?

  The building is thought to be the only surviving example of an Edwardian era post office building in greater Wellington.

Not assessed

• Building Permits 00060:6:225 and 00060:73:2871, 1993 (WCA).
• Correspondence file: Archives NZ reference ABWN_889_ W5021_16 /__20/136_1
• Crighton, Anna. 'Clayton, William Henry - Biography', from the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 1-Sep-10
• Ct vol 42 folio 234; CT vol 57 folio 34; CT209 folio 197; CT 28D/975; CT WN 28D/975
• Cyclopedia of New Zealand Vol. 1, Wellington Provincial District (Cyclopedia Co. Ltd., Wellington 1897
• Dominion, 18 October 1913
• Drainage Plans 22 Cleveland Street, 21/1/1914. Wellington City Archives (WCA)
• Evening Post, 14 September 1912; Evening Post, 16 December 1913
• July 1913 plans. Archives New Zealand ref ABKK__ W4358_289 /__ PWD 33819
• Image: Archives New Zealand reference AAME_8106 _W5603_95 /_1/B/17.
• Kelly, Michael & Russell Murray. “The Former Brooklyn Post Office, 22 Cleveland Street” unpublished research report for the WCC DPC 53, 2005
• LOCAL AND GENERAL. Dominion, 16 May 1914
• Personal communications P. Richardson (author of thesis on John Campbell) to M. Kelly.
• Records of Post Office mail volumes. AAME w4458 BRL Box 11. Archives New Zealand (ANZ).
• Schrader, Ben. 'Public buildings - State-sector buildings', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 29-May-12 URL:
• Startup, R. M. New Zealand Post Offices (Postal History Society of New Zealand, Whenuapai, 1993)
• TRADE JOTTINGS Evening Post, 12 December 1912
• Vickers, Joy. Early Brooklyn (Millwood Press, Wellington, 1983

• Inventory Report

Not available