I’ve written about all of the other details of a street that you get to experience whilst riding a bicycle. Because you’re travelling slower than in a car, there’s time to say hello to passers-by, you can check out the different front gardens, and these days the odd bunny hopping about (no, I don’t mean Easter bunnies, I mean those cute little ferals that seem to be proliferating about the place). One of the details of front yards I love to check out are people’s letter boxes. There’s so much diversity and I think the humble letter box can say a lot about a house and the occupants within.
Take mine, for example. It was once a freestanding cream-coloured basic metal type in a rounded bread loaf shape with some basic stick on numbers at the front. There’s room up top for the newspaper (rarely used) and a hatch underneath for the letters. Since we’re in the process of renovating and haven’t quite sorted out the front yard, I did a quick red paint renovation and bought some nicer numbers. A definite reflection of what our house is behind it with a not-quite-finished renovation and a million and one jobs on the list – they say a builder’s house is never finished, same goes for architects!
One could argue that the postbox is redundant – but how else would you receive your hard-copy Illawarra Flame every month? One could argue that we need more of a waterproof tub or locker than a shoebox-sized tin box. This is for all of the online shopping, meal kits and pizza deliveries. I recently noticed one of those big plastic storage tubs out the front of a place in Austinmer which had a note on it – “Australia Post deliveries in here please”. La Niña hasn’t been kind to home deliveries.
Despite the changing nature of the post and direct couriers, I don’t think the humble postbox is going anywhere. It’s a requirement for all new developments regardless of whether they ever get used. And just like physical cash or vinyl records, I think that’s a good thing – some things just need to stay in an old format. And so let us look into the wide world of local postboxes!
I have attempted to group their designs into three categories.
1. The store-bought standard
These range from your standard bread loaf shape like ours, to the designer sleek stainless steel box. There’s your ye olde worlde variety and sleek modern to complement your house’s style. A popular souvenir from New Zealand is to bring home one of their famous colourful plastic numbers. Sometimes they are integrated into a front fence, other varieties require a concrete anchor and some even suspend from a post.
2. The haphazardly repurposed
Last time I was driving out in the country, I noticed there were two types of mailboxes that seem to dominate front gates. Microwaves and fridges. There’s the classic stainless-steel milk jug perched on its side. I’ve seen beer kegs and all sorts of cans, tubs and tins with a slot cut out of them. Many a farmer will dress them up as a small front-entry sculpture, which leads me to my most favourite variety…
3. The unique & quirky
This is where some people go to town on creative exploration and experimentation. Popular among these are surfboards, mosaic tile numbers, or even the mini-me version of the house behind. Then there’s the budding sculpture artist taking their work skills to the front yard: I’ve seen tin kangaroos, metal chains welded together to give the impression they’re defying gravity, outboard motors and, of course, the classic Ned Kelly. If you’d like to see more kooky examples, a Sydney architect is documenting unique ones he finds on Instagram @letterbox_architecture
Have you seen a unique letterbox in your neck of the hood? I’d love to see a photo. Please email me at ben@wollenarchitecture.com.au
