The building of old Phuket Post Office is one of heritage buildings well renowned for its architectural beauty and meaningful charms that feature the uniqueness of the west coast beach province. This distinct white building has been the feast for eyes of Phuket’s passersby for ages. According to the records of state visits made by King Vajiravudh, the building was known to have built in 1930. Previously, the building was used as the residence of Phra Anurak Yotha (Nood), an official responsible for government’s administration in the western towns. Later, the building was used to serve government’s operations. Apart from the post office, there are Phuket Electricity Office, Phuket Municipality Office and Government Savings Bank within the same area. 

This one-storey reinforced concrete building was painted in white with 5-step stairs at the front. The building features fluted square pillars, polished concrete railings and oak window panes with a casement window. Above the window is an array of square wooden panes that allow natural light in, leading to the museum hall with vintage white wooden ceiling inside. Internal double panel doors were made of wood. On the outside, visitor will notice reinforced concrete eaves with approximately 10 centimetres in depth and 80 centimetres in width. The hip roof is decorated with cleaved China cylinder tiles. There is a sign in front of the building with old-fashioned alphabets which read POST & TELAGRAPH OFFICE.

Not only the museum, but the nearby neighbourhood is interesting. The opposite of the building, currently Pearl Hotel, was once a mine that developed into an array of shophouses of Khoon Lerdpokarak, a nobleman who converted the areas into Lerdpokarak shopping arcade, which was Phuket’s first shopping centre. The neighbourhood of Phuket Post & Telegraph Office was hence highly lavishing. Nevertheless, there was an attempt to abolish this heritage building in 1981 when Phuket’s Provincial Office had submitted a request to Post Office District 8 regarding the necessity to demolish the building for the construction of new provincial office. Eventually, Fine Arts Department had not granted the request because the building is categorised as a heritage site that deserves a conservation.

Later in 1994, the building was transformed into Phuket Philatelic Museum with the objective to provide knowledge on postage stamps and communications for general public to learn. Inaugurated on 14 December 2004, the museum firstly exhibited stamp collections of Thailand produced since 1951. In addition, there are the exhibition of communications devices used in Thailand since there was the Post and Telegraph Department, such as the first model of postal scale, postmarks, facsimile signal reception, etc. The backside of the museum hall serves as a library that provides knowledge and stories on the history of Thai and international postage stamps, the background of Thailand Post and many more.