Clock tower to stay

Press, 11 December 1981, Page 1

Clock tower to stay

Parliamentary reporter The clock tower and twostorey section of the Chief Post Office in Cathedral Square will not be demolished. The Government has decided it will be refurbished and will remain part of the new post office. The Postmaster General (Mr Cooper) said yesterday that the building had much historical and architectural merit, and that the decision to refurbish it was taken

after a detailed feasibility study by the Ministry of Works and Development. Redevelopment of the site would begin early next year with the demolition of Tonks Norton and Charles Clark buildings, and the section recently vacated by the postal services section. These were in poor structural condition. The old three-storey exchange building in Hereford Street would continue to house exchange equipment for several years, but would eventually be demolished, Mr

Cooper said. The main central telephone exchange would continue to be housed in the existing five-storey building in Hereford Street. Sketch plans would be drawn up by the Ministry of Works and Development, and discussed with the Post Office and the Christchurch City Council before proposals were adopted Mr Cooper said. A number of interested people and organisations had sought the conservation of the clock tower section of the Post Office.