General Post Office

The General Post Office is located on O’Connell street in Dublin’s city centre.

 The General Post Office was built in 1814. It was designed by Richard Johnston. The  building's  main feature is the huge hexstyle Doric portico over the pavement and which spans the five central Bays. The frieze is heavily carved and topped by huge dentil frieze and balustrade. To each side of  the portico are five further bays. Above the portico are statues by John Smith Fidelity, Hibernia and Mercury.

The GPO Is a large post office, a bureau de change and also has public phones.

 The General Post Office has a special place in Irish and Dublin history, being the focal point of the  Easter Rising in 1916. The Proclamation of Independence was read on the steps here by Pádraig Pearse. The General Post Office had been occupied as the virtual headquarters of the rebels, during the 1916 Rising and it was set ablaze by the British Artillery. The  building  was then gutted in  the  Civil War by rebel forces. A statue inside the building commemorates the rising “Cúchulainn” by  Oliver Shepard

In 1929 after reconstruction, the GPO had opened again for business. Advantage had been taken of  the destruction in Henry Street and the length of the building on thet side was extended to 330 feet. A further extensive renovation was carried out in 1984 to mark the occasion of the creation of "An Post", a semi-state company which had been formed from the old department of posts and  telegraphs.

The G.P.O. Today

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