[1] In 1830, John Butler selected land in the Swan River Colony, including much of what subsequently became Peppermint Grove and Claremont.

Initially the development of Claremont was from the farming activities undertaken by Butler and the fact that the area was a halfway point between Perth and Fremantle.

These subdivisions provided land to a growing number of civil servants and other prominent members of the community who could commute readily to Perth by rail.

[1] In 1886 the building of a new Claremont railway station and Stationmaster's House, at the termination of what was to become Bay View Terrace, to accommodate increased traffic, confirmed the importance of the area near the line and set the pattern for the modern development of the Claremont town centre between the railway line and the Perth to Fremantle Road (Stirling Highway).

In 1886, the Postmistress office moved closer to the railway and, by November 1888, was operating out of the store next to the Inn built on the western corner of Gugeri Street and Bay View Terrace, the site of the present Claremont Hotel (1888).

[1] George Temple Poole was an English born and trained architect and engineer who had arrived in Western Australia, in 1885, to take up the position of Superintendent of Public Works.

Under various official titles, including Colonial Architect and Assistant Engineer-in-Chief, he headed the architectural section of the Public Works Department (PWD) from its infancy to its gold boom heyday in the 1890s.

Claremont Post Office played an important part in the postal services available to the residents of these districts as it was convenient to the railway station.

The debate lasted until early April 1983 when Australia Post said that it would retain the building and upgrade it to service modern postal requirements.

[1] In the period 1998-99 further works were undertaken to the fabric and finishes of the post office which accommodates the Dome coffee tenancy in the southern section, the former mail room completed in 1985.

Bay View Terrace runs almost due north and south and the front elevation of Claremont Post Office faces west.

The quarters were accessible both from the main rooms of the post office and the rear of the building, via separate entrance on the eastern elevation.

Both these windows are rusticated on the eastern facade, which creates, in combination with the recessed doorway, a pleasantly sculptural quality to that which is effectively a rear entrance.

In the 1950s the open verandah on the northern elevation facing Gugeri Street, was modified with brick wall, timber windows and a tiled skillion roof.

Although further modifications were made to the place, in the 1980s, which altered the external form by adding new structures to the southern elevation of the building, these were done with minimal intrusion to the original fabric and in such a way as to be removable.

Works undertaken in the period 1998-99 included repainting of the external stone walls, new exposed piping on the north and eastern walls external surfaces, new landscaping to the Gugeri Street boundary including a line of trees, car parking spaces, closing of the original entrance and loss of the original Royal Cipher on the corner parapet.

The mail room is a large open, modern space which is free-standing and which now appears to house the DOME coffee shop as a tenancy.

Due to the sympathetic treatment of the facade of the extension, Claremont Post Office remains a strongly modelled and well balanced public building at an important gateway to Bay View Terrace.

The suitability of Claremont as a commuter suburb serviced by rail is reflected in the post office being constructed directly opposite the railway station.

It was designed by George Temple Poole in a Federation Arts and Crafts style and features rusticated stonework, expressed parapet and bold fenestration.

[1] This Wikipedia article was originally based on Claremont Post Office, entry number 105526 in the Australian Heritage Database published by the Commonwealth of Australia 2020 under CC-BY 4.0 licence, accessed on 4 January 2020.