Saxmundham former BT exchange to go on view after 50 years

The former telephone exchange and post office in Saxmundham

An almost fully intact decommissioned BT telephone exchange will open to the public for the first time since closing in the 1980s.

The exchange in Saxmundham, Suffolk is in a building that now houses The Art Station workspaces and studios.

Director Clare Palmier, said the wires and machines "somehow just got left so there's a whole area where the equipment is still there".

Operational from 1954, the exchange also functioned as a post office.

The "historically significant" exchange was on the town's High Street in an industrial building designed by Thomas Winterburn, one of 10 post office architects associated with the Festival of Britain movement.

The telephone exchange in 1965

One of the routers used to connect callers

Manual telephone sound equipment

Contextual archival materials and artefacts about the exchange have been provided by BT Adastral Park and Saxmundham Museum.

The "virtually untouched" exhibits will be accompanied by stories from local people, said Ms Palmier.

Records show that at its height the exchange employed about 50 people.

"People are really interested in the technology-side because in this building there's essentially the history of telecommunications from the 1950s up until today, with a modern server in the building," said Ms Palmer.

Art programmes and workshops will run alongside the first openings which will take place on 18 and 25 September.

The former exchange now hosts The Art Station creative workspace centre and a parcel collection depot

Digital artist Henry Driver will also be displaying his work Secrets of Soil within the space, as a creative response to the developing technology of communication.