The radical change in the postal organizations of the Ottoman Empire began immediately after the Tanzimat era. Although it is known that the first steps were taken during the reign of Mahmud II, the first concrete change was the establishment of the Ministry of Posts and the enactment of the regulation in 1840. The postal organization, which was first developed and institutionalized in Istanbul, soon spread to the major provinces of the empire. In fact, as early as 1841, postal organizations were established in cities such as Yenişehir, Thessaloniki, Serres, Nis, Ioannina, Ankara and Kayseri. By 1849, the number of provincial postal organizations had risen to 44. The regulations of 1840 and 1870 shaped the administrative organization of the postal organization, and efforts were made to benefit from the communication technologies of the time, using the reports of foreign experts. The telegraph played an important role in the development of communication technology. The telegraph, the new communication technology introduced in the Ottoman lands during the Crimean War, became widespread in the Ottoman lands soon after the war. The Telegraph Administration, which initially had a directorate7level management structure (1855), was merged with the Post Ministry in 1871, and the name of the Ministry was updated to the Post and Telegraph Ministry. Another change in the name of the ministry came with the spread of telephone technology in the Ottoman Empire. After the first attempts in 1881, telephone lines became widespread in 1908 and the name of the ministry in charge of transport and communication was changed to the Ministry of Post, Telegraph and Telephone by a decree in 1911. The development of the Ministry of Post and Telegraph continued during the reign of Abdülhamid II, and post and telegraph buildings were built or designed in many parts of the empire. However, in settlements that did not have an independent structure, postal and telegraph services were provided within buildings such as government buildings, municipal buildings and banks.

The main subject of this study is the construction process and project files of the Telegraph and Post Office building that was planned to be built in Konya Province. Some files in the Ottoman Archive contain the official correspondence and project files related to the building in question. The correspondence and project file dated 1899 shows that the Konya Provincial Council requested for the building. The Provincial Council stated that the existing post office building was in a dilapidated condition and that the construction of a new post office building was imperative. The construction projects and findings are also attached. The Konya Provincial Council also mentioned that the poor condition of the building undermined the representation of the state. The Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs responded negatively to this request. The main reason given was that the budget allocated by the Ministry for constructing the building was insufficient. Based on this letter to the Ministry of the Interior, the response of the Ministry of the Interior was also negative. However, it has also been reported that initiatives have been taken to renovate the buildings, which are in a dilapidated state and undermine the image of the state. In addition to the file in question, there are other documents relating to the construction of the building. As part of the study, these documents were also analyzed and the correspondence that occurred after the preparation of the project was evaluated. The correspondence between the Konya Provincial Assembly, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Post and Telegraph on May 22, 1899, June 29, 1899, July 5, 1899, July 23, 1899 and November 18, 1900 emphasizes the urgency of the construction of a post office building, but also shows that the amount determined was not appropriate.

The planned building project consisted of floor plans and a main facade design. In the project prepared by Mehmet Şaban, the Deputy Chief Engineer of Konya Province, the floor plans repeated a scheme found in many public buil7 dings. A wide corridor in the center of the plan and rooms lined up on either side of the corridor form the layout of the building. The building has three floors and a basement. The ground floor of the building was to be used as a post office and the first floor as a telegraph office. The rooms on the ground floor, which have different dimensions, function as the "Postal Center Manager's Room", "Chief Engineer's Room", "Coffee Oven", "Kavas (Bodyguard) and Sergeant's Room", "Store" and "Post Office". In addition, in the post office room on this floor, there are two separate sections, labeled "the place of receipt of letters and leveling letters" and "the place of receipt and distribution of security deposits". The first floor, which was used as a telegraph office, consists of the following rooms: "Chief Manager's Room", "Telegraph Center Manager's Room", "Communication Room", "Pen Room", "Inspector's Room", "Foreign Communication Room" and "Rest Room". The façades of the buildings were designed in the neoclassical style. The ornamental elements of the door and window frames and the symmetrical openings show that the basic elements of neoclassical architecture were preferred in this building. Another file that provides details about the architectural features of a building is the Discovery Book. The discovery book shows that the body walls of a building are built with two different types of stone. However, wooden materials were preferred for the ceiling and floor coverings inside the building and for the roof structure. The use of beams for the basement floor, which is not shown in the plan drawing but in the façade drawing, was noted in the discovery book. On the basis of this, the ground floor has a jack arch technique. In the seal and signature section of the survey book in the file, it can be read that the project in question was prepared by Mehmet Şaban bin Ahmet, the Deputy Chief Engineer of Konya Province. The name in question is also mentioned in the Konya Province Annual of 1899.

It can be seen that the main obstacle to the construction of the Konya Telegraph and Post Office building was mainly financial. In fact, this situation is not unique to this building. In the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century, one of the biggest problems in the construction of public buildings was the budget. When budgets were insufficient, the provincial assemblies could resort to various means. Donations collected from prominent individuals and families in the region (iane), the sale of land owned by the provincial council or the relevant institution, or lotteries were different ways of raising funds for construction. In the case of the Konya Telegraph and Post Office, there is no evidence that these means were used. 

The Konya Post and Telegraph Building consists of a space defined as a sofa/divanhane/corridor/lounge in the center and a scheme consisting of rooms located on both sides of the space, which is often found in traditional residential architecture in terms of plan features. In this context, it can be said that it has a common design approach with the Bursa, Kastamonu, Giresun and Antalya Telegraph and Post Office buildings, although it has similar features with the plan scheme of many public buildings.

An analysis of the building, façade and massing characteristics shows that the neoclassical style is gaining in importance in the design process. In the second half of the 19th century, it is known that the neoclassical style was favored in many public buildings. It can be seen that this process continues in the Post Office and Telegraph buildings. The design approach close to the style preferred in the Konya Post and Telegraph Building can also be observed in the British Post Office Building in Galata, Giresun, Niş and Cisr7i Mustafapaşa Town Telegraph Offices. In general, the post office buildings have forms that are in accordance with the architectural texture of the region, especially the residential architecture.

Another striking feature of the Konya Telegraph and Post Office building is that the postal and telegraph services are divided into separate floors and the administrative structure is proportionally distributed within the plan scheme. The ground floor is reserved for postal services and the upper floor for telegraph services.

The construction process of the telegraph and post office building, which occupied the Konya Provincial Assembly for a short period, has been studied with the help of original documents, the reasons why the construction of the building was not carried out have been detailed, the design details of the project have been discussed and its place in the construction activities of the period has been determined. As a result, it is believed that a detailed study of the post and telegraph buildings of the Ottoman period will lead to a better understanding of their place in Ottoman architecture and will contribute to future research in this field.