Scaffolding erected around the front of the 126-year-old building is in preparation for exterior paint work and interior redesign.

Tamworth Regional Council’s acting director of planning, David Lewis, said approval had been granted for the scaffolding to go up on the footpath outside the building.

“Council’s heritage adviser is currently reviewing a Heritage Impact Statement prepared by NBRS and Partners,” Mr Lewis said.

Planned works to the post office include repainting of the facade, in line with a historic colour scheme which NBRS+Partners has said is based on research into previous colours used for the building.

Repairs to the original fabric and some joinery reinstatement, as well as other internal works, have been proposed for a section of the building that was built in 1966.

Before the works can begin, further approval must be granted for the project from the council and the State Heritage Office.

The post office is perhaps the most iconic feature of the Tamworth commercial streetscape and has been the subject of thousands of images and sketches over the years.

When the original building was opened on May 31, 1886, the architecture was described as “Italian medieval style of the Renaissance period”.

The postmaster had his own cow paddock on the Fitzroy St side, where the Lands Office building now stands, and the postmistress had a rose garden where the general mail retail entrance stands.

Less than six weeks later the new “illuminated” clock, bought for £490, was installed and, except for one in Newcastle, was said to be the finest clock in any country town in NSW.

It has had a number of major revamps, including major alterations in the 1960s when the Fitzroy St facade was doubled in length, with new colonnades constructed on the ground and first floors, to match the originals.

In 1986, as part of a $355,000 makeover, the front half of the ground floor was refurbished and some modern conveniences, including new counters and airconditioning, installed.

It was given a new paint job then, too, in line with 1880s colours, with vanilla, tan and white and green highlights.