Summergate Post Office

## Architect

* Retro
* Tox

**Summergate Post Office** served as a mail system for the citizens of Dragonhollow's Fourth Era

Mailboxes could be reserved for free by any resident of the Summerlands. Though they alone could access their box's content, anyone could drop in items. Owners were notified that they had mail via a glowing red indicator light. They were encouraged to design and submit personal banners to be hung above their boxes.

Written books, stamps, and blank banners could be purchased from Postman Pat, the mail clerk.

# History

### Construction

    Retro and Tox had discussed plans with Sprankles for a new post office somewhere in the Summerlands but decided to postpone construction until the conclusion of their Summergate Secret Santa event.

Two different locations were initially considered. The first, a section of Summer Park that hosted the Secret Santa tree, was deemed to be too small. A second site on the West Road next to the Pixel Art Museum was chosen instead.

On 4E:356, Tox, Retro, Katie, and Rocco began clearing terrain at the site.

Retro experimented with various redstone mechanisms for the mailbox backend before settling on a compact 2x5x6 design. Katie submitted a floor pattern that utilized dark prismarine, but Retro and Tox eventually settled on white stained clay with a polished granite border.

Both men wanted to use quartz as the defining architectural element of the post office so as to stylistically complement Summergate Town Hall, but they felt their design needed a strong secondary color scheme to break up the palette's uniformity. They chose red brick because neither had much experience building with it and felt it might be interesting to work with.

Construction took place over eight days. The bulk of the required materials were provided by Retro and Tox. Retro discovered the Guardian Trench, first of the Hyper Dungeons in Dungeon Quest, while he and Tox were diving for clay deposits to smelt into brick for use in the Post Office construction.

Most of the post office came from Tox and Retro working closely together, though several elements were the result of their individual creativity. They collaborated on the superstructure, the ceiling, and the main concourse. Tox was responsible for the glassed-in endcaps at the edge of each wing, the water fountain, the upper atrium, and the canopied pavilion entrances of both wings. Retro handled the glass dome, the atrium's back wall, the lion's share of the roof, and the twin columns out front.

Katie was responsible for the exterior landscaping, planting flowers and sculpting the back-lit reflecting ponds out front.

The project received considerable support from the community. Jevie, Jinx, Rolo, Wicked, Sensei, and Zerg provided materials either through donation or trade. HyperSilence, the Archpriest of Eris, used the magical abilities vested in him by the Goddess of Discord to put two upside-down pigmen in display cases within the entrance columns and staff a kiosk in the atrium with a mail clerk, Postman Pat.

### Post-Opening

Summergate Post Office officially opened to the public on 4E:364 and was celebrated with fireworks and cake donated from the confectionery stockpile at 381 Swampian Lane.

Sprankles became the first resident to claim a mailbox, though many others soon followed.

The post office was mentioned in the Fourth Issue of the *Dragonhollow Newsletter*, though it mistakenly directed would-be travelers to the East Road rather than the West.

When Eris repaired the grounded airships and reopened the aerial route between Summergate and Snowcrest, a mysterious benefactor dropped 5 airship tickets into every mailbox.

MaccaMan published a post office guide entitled *The Mail Basics*.

To celebrate Valentine's Day on 4E:378, Boo and Shark left personalized *Valentines* in every mailbox at the post office.

On 4E:412, a marauding gang of bandits led by Nut irreparably damaged the post office during the Fall of Summer and it was further reduced to rubble in the days that followed.

# Gallery

Building site early in the Fourth EraRetro experiments with designs for a compact mailbox backendRoc's Nest home overlooking excavated building siteKatie hard at work terraforming the siteRetro surveys progress on the triple entrancesRetro, Katie, and Rocco stand near completed brick elementsInitial wing work inspected by MaccaManRetro completes the mailbox machineryExterior walls take shapeExperimentation with endcap designsIntial arched roof spans erectedScaffolding and RetroingFountain designRoof pitch testingRoof work proceedsDifferent interior floor combinationsRetro works on crow-stepped gableWing roof and central fountain completedAtrium work beginsJevie visits the construction siteAtrium work continues with peristyled collonadeAtrium progress visible from Summer PondGroundskeeping from KatieTox and Retro considered several dome designsCompleted dome from downtown SummergateUpside-down pigmen attack construction siteThe finished Post OfficeThe finished Post OfficeThe finished Post OfficeLong-distance view of entire building from the RookeryThe West WingThe East WingInterior of wingEndcapBack wall of atriumTox under the atrium domeSide viewBack view and Rocco's houseRetro from the main entranceTox from the main entranceShark and Hyper (wearing Acey's face)AcknowledgementsWojcik arrives at the entrancePostman PatPost Office on the map wall in the Tox BoxDamage during the Fall of SummerOverhead shot of the damage (upper left)A day after the destruction