The building at the end of of Queen Street facing toward the camera in the image above, taken c1873, is the new chief Post Office and Telegraph Station.
It was designed by the Government Architect W.H. Clayton, and built at a cost of £698 by Henry Taylor. Tenders were called in February 1872 and construction completed that year. It was officially opened for business on 3 February 1873.
The single storey wooden building was the fifth different location of postal services in just over thirty years of European settlement. The new location in an area bounded by Devon and Robe Streets was called the "Market Place" in advertisements. It is now the Robe Street Lawn where the clocktower stands.
The Taranaki Herald was not impressed with the new building. While complimenting the construction they printed the following remark about the architects design, "We certainly cannot compliment the architect either on the design or the plan of the building, which is perhaps as unsuitable for its purpose as it possibly could be." The major problems cited were the lack of light and small size of the building.
Perhaps these were the reasons that only five years later a new and much larger "Government Building", including postal services, was erected on the same site. This building was then shifted a short distance to what was then Silver Street.
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