Fullerton Hotel Post Office Building
Originally Sydney’s Post Office (GPO), this beautiful building has been repurposed into the Fullerton Hotel. Completed in 1891 after 25 years of construction, it served as the GPO until 1996 when the main post office relocated. Instead, Australia Post operate a smaller Postal Shop from the George Street end of the building. At this time, a refurbishment of the building took place. This entailed enclosing the courtyard into an atrium and turning the remaining building into retail shops and offices. With its prominent position on the corner of George St. and Martin Place, it’s a beautiful building and easy to find.
Tour of the GPO
Our tour of the Old-GPO took us through the building, while learning about its history. Originally designed by James Barnett, the building was later expanded as postal services grew. If you look at the exterior photo, you will see that the lower two floors have arched windows, while the upper floor’s are round. Apparently Barnett thought that the later architect ruined his design by not continuing with the arches on the upper floor.
We were able to climb the interior spiral staircase to the upper floors, but access to the clock tower is restricted. This is because the stairs are no longer safe for visitors and are in need of repair. We did see the smaller George Street clock from the round windows on the third floor. From here you are able to see the clocks mechanical workings.
The old GPO courtyard is now covered, forming an atrium where natural light streams in from the glass ceiling. This is a great sight, even from ground floor, but is much better on the access bridge from the third floor. From here you are able to look down onto what was once a bustling courtyard, but is now a relaxed open space.
Even if you do not enter the building the exterior is worth looking at because of it’s carvings and colonnade. At 114m long, it’s still one of the largest sandstone buildings in Sydney.
What Did We Think?
This was an interesting and informative tour, accessing areas usually off limits. We especially liked the atrium and internal staircase as well as the colonial sandstone architecture.
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To see what else there is to do in New South Wales, please see some of our other stories.
Wow hard to believe that used to be a Post Office! What a beautiful building.
They really used to build them well back then.
Old buildings have a beauty all of there own, and you always need to look up, because the detail in those ceilings is just amazing. I really loved that photo of the colonnade – you captured the arches really well.
Thankyou for your nice words. You are right, often some of the most interesting things are on the ceiling