General Post Office, Perth The General Post Office is a heritage landmark building in Perth, Western Australia. Located on the western side of Forrest Place in the city's central business district, its imposing stone facade is in the Beaux-Arts style. The building was completed in 1923 after almost a decade of construction, which was protracted by World War I and the resulting shortages of construction materials. At the time of its opening, it was the largest building in Perth. After decades serving as Perth's central post office, Australia Post vacated the building on 22 July 2016. A franchise of clothing retailer H&M opened in its place in March 2017. History Previous postal services In the first year of the colony, the harbourmaster was appointed to perform the postal services for the colony. A General Post Office was proclaimed in St Georges Terrace in 1835, and in 1841 a Postmaster General was appointed. The colonial Posts and Telegraph Department took over control of Perth's telegraph services in 1871, and telephone services in 1889. The Perth General Post Office was relocated to St Georges Terrace between 1887 and 1890, however by 1910 this accommodation was inadequate for the services provided. In 1900 there were 175 post offices across Western Australia, together with 160 telephone exchanges. The Commonwealth took over control of postal and telecommunication services at Federation in 1901. Construction On 28 November 1911, the Commonwealth Government bought of land across Wellington Street from the Perth railway station. This land stretched to Murray Street and featured an "unhealthy" shopping arcade named Central Arcade. The land was to be used as a Commonwealth Government precinct, allowing the Commonwealth departments to move out of the cramped Treasury Buildings at the corner of St Georges Terrace and Barrack Street, which it shared with the State Government. A proposal was made in 1912 for a wide street through the site featuring a new General Post Office building. Principal Architect Hillson Beasley visited Melbourne, where he worked with Commonwealth Architect John Smith Murdoch to design the new General Post Office building. Architectural plans were drawn up and the construction contract with C. W. Arnott signed on 7 July 1914 at a cost of £232,700. These original plans provided for five storeys above ground level, in addition to a basement. Construction commenced in mid-1914, and initially experienced a delay due to sandy soil on the site. The foundation stone was laid by Minister for Home Affairs W. O. Archibald on 8 October 1915. The subsequent outbreak of World War I led to a significant delay in the building's construction. The steel to be used in the construction became subject to an embargo by the British Government in 1916. An alternative supply was finally sourced from Broken Hill Proprietary in 1920. Construction was later delayed due to a six-month engineers' strike. The flooring and fittings were originally to be Australian blackwood, however Murdoch substituted jarrah which could be locally sourced. William Hardwick succeeded Beasley as the Principal Architect in 1917 and oversaw the project from that point until its completion. Although the end date given in the construction contract was October 1917, the building was not nearing completion and this term in the contract was waived. Over the course of construction, the design of the building had been modified several times, largely in an effort to reduce costs. In 1921 it was resolved to add a further two storeys to the top of the building for use by other Commonwealth departments. These additional storeys were to be walled with brickwork, rather than the stone used to clad the rest