Patea's old post office changes hands after years of attempted sales

The former post office was built in 1923. Photo / Supplied

The nearly 100-year-old former post office in the south Taranaki town of Patea has sold after being on and off the market for around five years.

The two-storey building on Patea's main road was built in 1923 and served as the town's post office with a room upstairs for the postmaster and their family.

First National selling agent Kelly Baldwin said although there were was interest in the building, getting it sold was hard work.

"There was a lot of work and it took a while for the right buyer to come along," she said.

"It's a beautiful building but it wasn't an easy sale."

Baldwin said one difficulty was about the 96-year-old building's construction.

"There's a lot more implications around earthquake strengthening and that's something buyers have to be aware of."

The building's importance is recognised by the South Taranaki District Council, which gives it a cultural value rating of 10 out of 20 which includes an architectural value rating of 3 out of 4.

In recent years the building was a home and also used as a bed and breakfast. Photo / Supplied

The property was listed for $239,000 although Baldwin wasn't able to confirm the price it sold for or who purchased it.

Baldwin said she had also tried to sell the property a few years ago and that it had been with a few different real estate agents before her.

In recent years the building has been used as a residential home, and bed and breakfast.

It has 590sq m of floor space and in July was being rented out to two tenants for $490 per week.

Postal boxes could originally be found out the front, and the building featured a large mail room and a room that was fire and burglar proof.

Land where the building sits was first designated for a post office in 1867 when the town of Patea was surveyed. Before that date, an irregular mail service ran between Patea and Whanganui with all letters carried under military escort.