United States Post Office (New Rochelle, New York)

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Coordinates: 40°54′41.5″N 73°46′55″W / 40.911528°N 73.78194°W / 40.911528; -73.78194
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
US Post Office-New Rochelle
MPS
US Post Offices in New York State, 1858-1943, TR
NRHP reference No.88002368[1]
NYSRHP No.11942.000745
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 11, 1989
Designated NYSRHPMay 11, 1989

The main U.S. Post Office in New Rochelle (also known as New Rochelle Post Office) is located at 255 North Avenue, at the intersection of North Avenue and Huguenot St. (US 1/the

Pelham Manor
.

The building was listed on the

Multiple Property Submission. It is one of 94 post offices in New York State that received artistic embellishment, either mural or sculpture, during the Depression through the New Deal art program.[2]

Post office building

New Rochelle was settled by French Huguenots, who acquired the site of the present city in 1687 and 1689 through Jacob Leisler, Acting Governor of the New York colony, from John Pell, Lord of the Manor of Pelham. The community developed around the original Huguenot settlement. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the area experienced rapid expansion as a commuter suburb of New York City, with the population reaching 60,000 at the time of the construction of the present post office.

The first post office was established in 1799, with John Guion, a Huguenot descendant, serving as the first postmaster. The post office operated from various buildings until the construction of New Rochelle's first federal post office in 1915, located on the site of the present post office. This building was later demolished, and the current post office was constructed between 1936 and 1938. It was authorized as part of the expanded public buildings programs initiated by the federal government to alleviate unemployment caused by the Great Depression. The design of the building was led by New Rochelle resident

Frederick Frost
, with Hart & Shape serving as Associate Architects.

As originally constructed, the New Rochelle Post Office was an outstanding example of public architecture in New York State. It was one of the few

terra-cotta
clad exterior walls. Unfortunately, the terra cotta was replaced at an unknown date, probably in the 1960s, and the lobby was completely remodeled. Thus, the building has substantially lost its integrity of design and materials with the exception of three murals placed in the lobby in 1940, which still remain.

Murals

The New Rochelle Post Office is artistically significant for its distinctive intact group of murals commissioned by the

Battle of Lexington," depicts the community receiving news of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, a popular theme for post offices in communities which participated in the war.[2]
The central panel is about six feet by thirty-three-and-one-half feet while the latter two murals are approximately seven by fifteen feet each

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: United States Post Offices in New York State, 1858-1943, Thematic Resources" (PDF). October 1988. Retrieved 2008-11-07.
  3. ^ "Gets Mural Award For New Rochelle: David Hutchison of this City Wins $2,500 Prize - Design is For Post Office". The New York Times. January 15, 1939. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  4. ^ "Post Office Murals – New Rochelle NY". The Living New Deal. Retrieved September 18, 2022.

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