General Post Office, London
The General Post Office in St. Martin's Le Grand was the main post office for London between 1829 and 1910, the headquarters of the General Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and England's first purpose-built post office.
The 19th-century headquarters of the General Post Office in London
Plaque relating to the General Letter Office in Threadneedle Street.
The General Post Office in Lombard Street, c.1800 (the building to the right is St Mary Woolnoth).
The New General Post Office, London, 1829, by James Pollard, showing the main west façade on St Martin's Le Grand.
St. Martin's Le Grand is a former liberty within the City of London, and is the name of a street north of Newgate Street and Cheapside and south of Aldersgate Street. It forms the southernmost section of the A1 road. For many years St. Martin's Le Grand was "often used as a synonym for the chief postal authorities, as Scotland Yard is used to designate the police", the headquarters of the General Post Office having been there from 1829-1984.
Engraving by G.J. Emblem after T. Allom: The Post Office, St. Paul's Cathedral, and Bull & Mouth Inn, London in 1829.
The same view in 2007
The Royal Mails Starting from the General Post Office, London. Richard Gilson Reeve, 1830.
St. Martin's Le Grand looking north, c.1900 (GPO buildings highlighted).