Kildare Post Office

Attached three-bay single-storey red brick post office, c.1910, with round-headed openings, single-bay single-storey flat-roofed lower end bay to left (south-east) and two-bay single-storey flat-roofed return to rear to south-west. Hipped roof with slate. Red clay ridge tiles. Glazed lantern to apex on a rectangular plan with hipped roof. Cast-iron rainwater goods on moulded red brick eaves course. Flat-roofed to end bay. Materials not visible. Flat-roofed to return behind parapet walls. Materials not visible. Red brick English Garden Wall bond wall to front (north-east) elevation. Moulded red brick cornice to eaves. Cast-iron plaque. Rendered walls to remainder. Ruled and lined. Unpainted. Rendered parapet wall to return with coping. Round-headed openings to front (north-east) elevation. Stone sills. Red brick surrounds. Fixed-pane timber windows (possibly original). Timber panelled double doors. Overlight. Square-headed window openings to remainder. Stone sills. Fittings not visible behind iron bars. Road fronted. Concrete brick cobbled footpath to front.

Kildare Post Office is an attractive, small-scale building that is identified on the streetscape of Dublin Street by the construction primarily in red brick. A further distinguished feature is the glazed lantern to the roof. The post office is of some social and historical significance as the earliest purpose-built office in Kildare town, and one of the earliest built in the country – it is roughly contemporary with the post office at the Curragh Camp (11902303/KD-23-03). The post office has been well-maintained and presents an early aspect on to the road. Important salient features and materials include timber fittings to the openings and a slate roof having cast-iron rainwater goods and the glazed lantern.