General Post Office Murree Hills, Punjab, Pakistan

General Post Office Murree Hills


These photographs are of commemorative boards and British times beautiful building of General Post Office located at Mall road Murree Hills, Punjab, Pakistan. It was established as Post Office at Lower Mall in 1867. The present land measuring 0.55 acres was purchased in 1904 from Raja of Kashmir state. The Gazetter of Rawalpindi district 1893-94 recorded that Murree Post Office was working as Disbursing Sub office with the facilities of combined post & telegraph, money order and saving bank. Later it was upgraded to Head Post Office. It was upgraded to class-1 GPO w. e. f 07-05-1983 under the charge of Gazetted Postmaster. The post office Murree functioned under the administrative control of Superintendent Post Offices Rawalpindi Division, Islamabad Postal Division & Murree Kahuta Division at present. When Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah visited Murree in 1944, Royal reception was given to Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah at Post office Chowk. GPO Murree building was restored in 1900s, 1905, 1910, 1930s, 1940, 1950s, 1960s, 1970, 2014 and 2015. GPO Murree building looks very attractive during snow 🌨 fall.

English inscriptions on commemorative boards provides this historical information :


1- 'General Post Office Murree

This building was conserved, reconstructes and renovated as per its original design dated1867: modifications upto 1970 have also been included. Inaugurated on 29th December 2015 by Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Prime Minister Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Client: Pakistan Post
Executive Agency : The Urban Unit
Conservation Architect : Fauzia Qureshi
Contactor : Capital Builders '.

2-' Murree GPO Restoration Process

The restoration of the Murree GPO was a challenging project. Several modifications to the original building had been made over the years and in the absence of proper documentation,, drawing and scope of work had to be revised constantly as new issues became known. The process is explained below:

1- Documentation & drawings

The existing building was documented and archival research was conducted for the design and drawings of the original building.

2- Dismantling
Modern additions and inconsistent elements were dismantled to reveal the original structure.

3- Drawing revisions
Drawings were constantly updated as new features of the building came to light.

4- Conservation & Reconstruction
The original structure was rehabilitated while destroyed portions were reconstructed.

5- Adaptive Re-use
Building functions were expanded to include a cafe and postal museum. Layouts, interior designs and period-appropriate furnishings were also developed. '

3-' Conservation & Restoration of GPO Murree

The General Post Office (GPO) is one of the first public buildings constructed in Murree in 1867 and it stands on a pivotal location at the beginning of the mall road. The GPO building carries with it a legacy that has been vital in informing people of the History and the stories that made Murree. This Building had undergone numerous interventions since it was originally built such that its facade was completely different to the visual icon that was in 1867. The GPO building remained relatively unchanged from the time it was built to around 1930. Between 1923 and 1935, an additional wing was added to the building, retaining the same architecture. However during the 1970s, the building underwent extensive modification that destroyed its original historic character.'



Photographs By Ali Babar


Sources:

1- Commemorative boards

2- Write up by GPO Murree administration

3- Gazetter of Rawalpindi District 1893-94

Lahore General Post Office

Lahore General Post Office



These are photographs of English commemoratives flex and British times Monument of Lahore General Post Office situated at the junction of Nabha road with the Mall Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. This magnificent Monument was constructed in 1904 and now gained the status of landmark of the city of Lahore. This Building is a mixture of Muslim, Hindu and European styles of architecture.  The renovation work started in 1984 and continued for a number of years under the guidance and supervision of Renowned architect Mrs. Yasmeen Lari.


The Historic Information Written on the Commemorative flex was
Issued by the Director General Pakistan Post Office, Islamabad and reads as under :


'Lahore GPO


The magnificent building of General Post Office Lahore, lovingly called by Lahorites as the GPO, is ideally located at McLeod road and the Mall. It sits at a corner where the old Nabha road meets the Mall at a sharp angle. This gives this building a special shape of a triangle with an open base and a flattened top. But this is not the building where the General Post Office of Lahore was first housed in the middle of the 19th Century. In some of General books on Lahore, it is only mentioned that the first General Post Office was located in Anarkali near the central museum. But certainly, both the Anarkali and the Lahore Museum were then not at their present locations. The entire length from the Lohari gate to Chauburji was then called Anarkali and according to one official letter dated 22nd September 1860 the Lahore Museum comprises was then located somewhere in Anarkali. The tollinton market was constructed in 1864 to house the first Punjab Exhibition and acted as Museum premises for next 30 year finally to be shifted to present Building on Shahrah e Quaid-e-Azam in 1894. The original building of General Post Office was located south of the present Tollinton market (1864) and east of the Punjab public library (1882). Here in 1849, was constructed a barrack like building to house the ever first post office of Lahore. It was headed by Mr. W. T. Clifford, the first postmaster who assume his charge on 12th June 1849 and lived in a large Bungalow situated closed by in an extensive compound. The Postmaster of Lahore then used to work under the Postmaster General of the North Western Provinces with his headquarters at Agra. Although after 1849,some additions were made to the post office building but soon the Postmaster General felt that the accommodation hardly sufficient for the staff. Besides, he had certain reservations about the very site of Post Office. The Lahore Cantonment, then located in old Anarkali was being shifted to Mian Mir (Present day Lahore Cantonment) and several buildings in Anarkali were vacated. Mr. B. Riddal, the Postmaster General of the North Western Provinces, therefore wrote in March 1852 to the secretary, board of Administration Punjab, inviting his attention to his earlier letterof November 10th 1851 and requested him to allot one of the houses vacated by the Army officers in Anarkali for the use as post office. The request of the Postmaster General, however, could not be acceded and deferred. By October 1862, there was appointed a separate Postmaster General for Punjab. The Lahore GPO continued to work in its old location in Anarkali. By the year 1883, it had only three branch offices in Lahore, one each at railway Station, Moti Bazar and Lohari mandi. A horse-dak used to ply along the grand trunk road to Ferozepur and a male cart ran daily from Lahore to Mian Mir. Besides, there were pillar-post boxes cleared three times a day. No business was transacted on Sundays,New years days, Good Friday, the queen's birthday and Christmas day. As late as 1876 packages were received at the Lahore GPO in Anarkali for despatches by Government bullock train 24 stations from Peshawar to Ferozepur. This was the time when several of prestigious buildings which today are regarded as landmark of the city of Lah