The function has remained unchanged for two hundred years. The Szczuczyn post office closely adheres to the model design in both the layout of the buildings and their architectural decoration with characteristic rustications around the openings and at the corners.

History of the structure/dating of construction phases

The event that played an essential role in the development of Szczuczyn was the establishment of the New Town around 1800, in the areas to the north of from the area marked in the town charter The buildings of the New Town were erected along the road to Prussia and Grajewo, the New Town Square developed north of it, the Main Street (today Kilińskiego Street) was laid out as a wide avenue. Around 1824, the New Town Square was built over with a complex of post office buildings, erected according to the model design for the smaller, second-class post station, prepared by the General Directorate of Roads and Bridges of the Kingdom of Poland. The three buildings were located on a shared, fenced plot with two entrances. The post office inn was on the axis of the road, turning there at right angle to the east. The so-called fruit garden was planned around the fencing of the post station. In the main building, the so-called the post house, were "expedition" and  "chancellery" as well as rooms for travellers and a flat of post station officer. Stables and coach houses were located in the side outbuildings.  Probably the work of the later reconstruction is a lean-to at the the northern wall of the post office. After 1945, the interiors were rebuilt, a general renovation took place in 1993.

Description of the structure

The post office complex is located in the north-western part of the town, on the axis of the former St. Petersburg route, nowadays a national road.   The main building is placed with its ridge parallel to the road, the outbuildings have their ridges perpendicular to the road. These tree buildings surround a rectangular courtyard.

The were designed in the Classicist style. The complex consists of three buildings, all three on rectangular plans are connected with each other through gates, the area is fenced.   The areas of the former fruit garden around the outbuildings are covered with grass. The buildings are made of brick, plastered, one-story, covered with high hip roofs. Corners, middle bays, window openings accentuated with rustication, profiled crowning cornices.

Visitor access: The historical monument is accessible.

Author of the note: Iwona Górska, Regional Branch of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage in Białystok, 14 October 2014

Bibliography

• Katalog Zabytków Sztuki w Polsce, vol. IX: Województwo łomżyńskie, fol. 3: Kolno, Grajewo i okolice, prepared by Kałamajska-Saeed M., Warsaw 1988, p. 52.
• Czapska A., Rozwój i architektura Szczuczyna, [in:] Rocznik Białostocki, vol. X, Warsaw 1971, pp. 179-180.
• Nicewicz Cz., Województwo łomżyńskie, przewodnik, Łomża 1991, p. 48.
• Szczuczyn, woj. Łomżyńskie. Studium historyczno-urbanistyczne do planu zagospodarowania przestrzennego miasta opracowane na zlecenie WKZ w Białymstoku, prepared by J. Kubiak, Warsaw 1976, typescript PPKZ, in the collection of the National Institute of Cultural Heritage, Branch in Białystok, pp. 37-39.