Old Ponsonby Post Office

The Old Ponsonby Post Officeis a true icon of New Zealand Heritage for many reasons, and the triangular landmark at 1 St Mary’s Bay road has taken a new lease on life following it’s 100th birthday in 2011.

First designed by prolific government architect John Campbell just before he won accolades for Parliament buildings, the post office is ornamental in the extreme for a public service building and then became more so. Ponsonby residents were so proud of it they added a clock tower two years later.

When, in 1920, new fingerprint technology came knocking at the door of New Zealand’s justice system, this grand and loved Post Office became the unlikely venue of the test case crime.

A Mr Braithwaite who was Ponsonby’s Postmaster, fell victim to what we would now call a home invasion, murdered by revolver in his bed for the sake of the keys to the Ponsonby Post Office. The robbers then raided the Post Office, making away with the loot. The twist comes when a suspect, Dennis Gunn, was identified, prosecuted, found guilty and indeed hanged, all on the basis of his file fingerprints matching those at the two scenes.

Gunn’s was the first prosecution in the British Empire, and possibly the world, based entirely on this new technology, forming a precedent.

Well preserved throughout the 20th Century the building remained in service until changes to the New Zealand Post Office system in the 1990s. Fortunately subsequent owners have seen the value in it’s beauty. Timely earthquake strengthening fitted it out for the next century in 2013 and once again it changed hands.

Heritage status protects the Neo-Baroque ornamental facade but the interior 651 square metre interior has been put to many uses, including retail, medical, restaurant and even accommodation.

The real post office where one can post mail and do banking is much further up Ponsonby Road at 341.