Texas architecture studio Side Angle Side has adapted a 1960s post office into a food market and restaurant in Austin.
Opened in October 2023 in the Hyde Park area, Tiny Grocer serves as a speciality market, bar and cafe while Bureau de Poste is a modern French bistro led by celebrity chef Jo Chan.
Side Angle Side has transformed a 1960s post office into a food market and restaurant
Austin-based commercial and residential architecture firm Side Angle Side renovated the 3,500-square foot (325-square metre) 1967 US Post Office building and added a 1,500-square foot (140-square metre) outdoor dining patio.
"The Hyde Park U.S. Post Office was an important neighborhood hub in the 1960s ? so we were especially careful to keep the integrity and spirit of the mid-century-utilitarian design," Arthur Furman, founding partner of Side Angle Side, told Dezeen. The team sought to preserve the building's history as a community hub
"As the anchor tenant in the space, Tiny Grocer continues to be the centre of the community, a place to gather, shop, eat and drink."
The shell of the white brick building was left intact, but the street-facing facade was previously used as a loading dock so the team transformed the back-of-house edge into a welcoming patio for the neighbourhood by removing the asphalt and adding two large live oak trees and a steel trellis and planters.
The exterior of the building was kept intact
A cast-in-place concrete banquette holds the edge of the pati...