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FORMER POST OFFICE

Residents have come to Akaroa’s former post office for more than 90 years to post letters, attend to business and seek information.

Category: Public Buildings
Date: 1915
Street Address: 78 Rue Lavaud
HPT registered? No
District Plan Listed? Yes

Yes Akaroa has had a mail service since the 1840s.

In earlier years, mail came and went by boat, horseback and coach. A post office was built on approximately the site of the present building in 1856. Plans to replace the original, single-storey, wooden building were drawn up in 1911 in the office of the Government Architect, John Campbell, but the foundation stone was not laid until 8 April 1914. The building opened in 1915.

In the first decade of the 20th century, many small-town post offices in New Zealand were built in a ponderous Edwardian Baroque style. But Akaroa’s domestic-looking, building, influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, is far better suited to the character of the town. The building was sold by New Zealand Post in 1993, after the re-organisation of government services that were part of the economic changes set in train by the 1984 Labour Government.

In recent years, the building has housed Akaroa’s Council Service Centre and the town’s information centre. It has been a focus of community life in Akaroa for more than 90 years.

 

 

 
   
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