World Photography Day: Documenting the build

Today is Photography Day, celebrating the photographers and the stories they capture. Here at the BPMA, we have approximately 100,000 photographs in our collections. As we ramp up to open The Postal Museum and Mail Rail, photography is playing an even more crucial role, documenting the transformation of our physical spaces.

Demolition has started at The Postal Museum site and we are eagerly waiting to get started in Mail Rail. Below are a few  photos of the building that will become our new home. The first showing it in its former glory in the early 20^th century, the other’s what it looked like a couple months ago before demolition work began.

An early photograph of Calthorpe House (the building that will become The Postal Museum)

The back of the museum site (early 2015)

A rather treacherous hall way with raised flooring.

Fast forward to earlier this summer, photographer Miles Willis joined us to document the first couple of weeks of the strip-out and demolition of The Postal Museum building and the untouched Mail Rail.

Remember that back wall from above? Well it’s been demolished in preparation for our new archive repository! Copyright The British Postal Museum & Archive/Miles Willis

 

Stripped away to its bare-bones! Copyright The British Postal Museum & Archive/Miles Willis

Work hasn’t started at Mail Rail (yet!) but Miles has documented this amazing space as it is now.

Looking up the incline into the Depot Space. Visitors will travel along the same tracks! Copyright The British Postal Museum & Archive/Miles Willis

Trains parked along the Mount Pleasant platform. Visitors will be able to pass along this platform on the ride! Copyright The Postal Museum/Miles Willis

Visitors will get to experience a piece of underground London never before open to the general public. Copyright The British Postal Museum & Archive/Miles Willis

As we get closer and closer to opening, we will have much more to share! Stay tuned and up-to-date by checking out our dedicated project website and joining our enewsletter list.