Nomination for US Post Office--Newburyport Main

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-306 (Rev. 10-74) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES RECEIVED MAY INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM 98 JUN 18 DATE ENTERED FOR FEDERAL PROPERTIES SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS NAME HISTORIC United States Post Office AND/OR COMMON Newburyport Main Post Office LOCATION STREET & NUMBER 61 Pleasant Street CITY.

TOWN Newburyport STATE Massachusetts 01950 CLASSIFICATION N/A VICINITY OF CODE 0860 N/A NOT FOR PUBLICATION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Sixth Congresssional District COUNTY CODE Essex 009 CATEGORY _DISTRICT XBUILDING(S) -STRUCTURE SITE _OBJECT OWNERSHIP X PUBLIC -PRIVATE -BOTH PUBLIC ACQUISITION N/A IN PROCESS -BEING CONSIDERED STATUS XOCCUPIED _UNOCCUPIED -WORK IN PROGRESS ACCESSIBLE XYES: RESTRICTED -YES: UNRESTRICTED _NO PRESENT USE AGRICULTURE - MUSEUM _COMMERCIAL -PARK -EDUCATIONAL -PRIVATE RESIDENCE _ENTERTAINMENT - RELIGIOUS X GOVERNMENT -SCIENTIFIC _INDUSTRIAL -TRANSPORTATION -MILITARY _OTHER: AGENCY REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS: (If applicable) New England Field Real Estate and Buildings Offiee 5 STREET & NUMBER 1050 Waltham Street CITY. TOWN Lexington N/A VICINITY OF LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION STATE Massachusetts 02173 COURTHOUSE. REGISTRY OF DEEDS, ETC.

STREET & NUMBER Registry of Deeds, Salem Probate Courthouse 36 Federal Street CITY. TOWN 6 Salem REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS STATE Massachusetts 01970 TITLE DATE Newburyport (Market Square) Historic District XFEDERAL _STATE COUNTY _LOCAL February 25, 1971 DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS CITY. TOWN City of Newburyport, Office of Community Devestarment Newburyport Massachusetts 01950 7 DESCRIPTION CONDITION -EXCELLENT XGOOD -FAIR _DETERIORATED -RUINS _UNEXPOSED CHECK ONE _UNALTERED XALTERED CHECK ONE XORIGINAL SITE _MOVED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

DATE_ _LOCAL CONTEXT_ Within Newburyport's downtown historic district, the Newburyport Post Office is located at one of the city's main intersections, Pleasant and Green Streets. Adjacent are business offices, storefront retail, two churches (a Baptist Church to the west and the Church of the First Religious Society to the east), Brown Square Park, and Newburyport City Hall (built in 1851 in an Italian Villa style with rusticated quoins, gable roof, and round-headed pediment windows). A new brick sidewalk has been laid throughout the area. _PHYSICAL APPEARANCE_ Overall, the building and corner lot are in good condition. Its distinctive features include three large arched, marble-trimmed openings with a Palladian motif, symmetrical floorplan and elevation, a hip roof, brick quoins, and a marble belt course and cornice line.

The structure is on the front portion of the site, with a paved vehicle maneuvering area occupying most of the east side and all of the back of the property. In plan the building has an original vestibule that leads to a public lobby flanked by the Postmaster's office to the right and service area to the left. Behind theservice screen is theworkroom with mail vestibule and platform beyond. Seven granite steps with brass pipe railings create the main approach. Low wing walls, brick with a marble cap, frame the stairs; on top are cast iron lampposts. The front (north) elevation is a five-bay structure with a three-bay central projecting entrance. The elevations are of red brick laid in an English bond with corner quoins reminiscent of the adjacent City Hall. The windows are double-hung wood sash, 12/12 lights with marble sills and keystones.

The central Palladian windows include marble trim, keystone and NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Newburyport Post Office Item number 7 OMB No.1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only received date entered Page 2 springer stones, and a pilastered balustrade panel below. The door is within an arch opening framed by marble Roman Doric three-quarter engaged columns, entablature, keystone and springer stones, and fanlight with decorative trimming. The replacement glass and aluminum doors are topped with a nameplate and decorative metal grilles. The entablature's cornice is denticulated, and its frieze consists of geometric and floral patterns.

On the exterior front - the lobby, service counter and Postmaster's office - is marked by a continuous decorated marble cornice, a brick parapet inset with marble balustrade panels above the arched openings, a slate hip roof, and inverted corners. The side elevations are similar in detail to the front facade. The east elevation conforms to Green Street once past the main front public block. The rear (south) elevation contains the mail platform. Metal grilles with a Greek key pattern are common above most of the building's rectangular windows. The back of the building has a flat gravel roof with parapet walls. One enters the building through a steel and glass vestibule into the two story height public lobby. The floor is red quarry tile boardered with white marble; the walls are plaster with a paneled wood dado and black marble base.

The coffered ceiling and its simple molding are also of plaster. The Palladian window motif is recalled in the center of the service screen wall and above the replacement service counter on the east wall by the overhead wood frame openings. _ALTERATIONS_ The far east side of the south wall, which once contained service windows has been replaced with a door and additional boxes. The individual service windows on the east wall have been opened up and widened beyond the window frame above to form a single service counter. The molding along the ceiling's edge is in poor condition and parts have been replaced. The interior side of the front facade has been replaced due to a roof collapse.

NPS Form 10-900-a (3-82) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form Continuation sheet Newburyport Post Office ltem number 7 The roof has been repaired and reslated. OMB No. 1024-0018 Exp. 10-31-84 For NPS use only received date entered Page 3 8

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

SIGNIFICANCE PERIOD PREHISTORIC -ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC _1400-1499 ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC -1500-1599 AGRICULTURE -1600-1699 XARCHITECTURE -1700-1799 ART -1800-1899 -COMMERCE X1900- _COMMUNICATIONS AREAS OF SIGNIFICANCE -- CHECK AND JUSTIFY BELOW _COMMUNITY PLANNING _LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE -CONSERVATION -...LAW _ECONOMICS _LITERATURE LEDUCATION _MILITARY -ENGINEERING _MUSIC _EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _PHILOSOPHY -INDUSTRY -POLITICS/GOVERNMENT -INVENTION -RELIGION _SCIENCE _SCULPTURE -SOCIAL/HUMANITARIAN _THEATER _TRANSPORTATION -OTHER (SPECIEVI SPECIFIC DATES Construction started:JulYgJ1DER/ARcHITEcrJames A. Wetmore, Sup. Architect Dedication: May 3, 1928 A.M. Lundburg, Builder STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

Statement of significance

Arnold Shorrick, Architects Repairs: 1975 The Newburyport Main Post Office building is situated in the heart of Newburyport's historic downtown. Built in 1928 it was designed in the Colonial or more specifically, Georgian Revival style. Architecturally it is significant as an example of the U.S. Treasury Department's policy during the 1910's and 1920's to erect "buildings adapted to local conditions and in keeping with the importance of the communities in which they are erected." Compatibility, interiors forms, style and materials with surrounding structures is the Newburyport Post Office building's chief hallmark. The monumentality, expensive building materials and lavish interior treatments, typical of the early 1900's post office design, is no where in evidence.

Its boxey red brick with stone trimmed form complememts the red brick Italianate City Hall (1851) and other buildings in the immediate area. During the mid 1970's, Newburyport was one of 799 towns and cities determined eligible for a Federal building by a U. S. Treasury Department survey. The Newburyport Post Office building owes its existence to the Public Buildings Act of 1926 - a general enabling act which allotted $100,000.00 for buildings outside the District of Columbia. The building falls within Class C of the Secretary of the Treasury's 1915 Classification of Buildings by virtue of its location within a "second class city" and the type of materials employed in its construction. This building!'s.U.S, Treasury Supervising Architect was James A. Wetmore - born November 10, 1863 in Bath, New York, he was a graduate of Georgetown University.

He began work as a law and court stenographer and joined the U.S. Treasury Department in 1885. Over a 45 year period, he held positions within the U.S. Treasury Department ranging from stenographer to Supervising Architect. During his tenure at least 2,000 buildings were designed in his office. He died March 4, 1940. Arthur Shorrick was the local architect charged with preparing designs and floor plans that would serve as a guide for working drawings and specification produced within the Supervising Architect's office (a search in Boston and local libraries did not yield information on Shorrick). The Public Buildings Act of May 25, 1926 (Keyes-Elliot Act) authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to hire outside architects in "special cases." The Newburyport Main Post Office occupies the site of the old "Star Theatre, a popular entertainment spot at the turn of the century.

The government purchased the land in 1911 for $25,000.00 and over the years slowly developed a plan calling for a two- story post office. The original appropriation was $75,000.00 but war efforts caused construction costs to rise. Funds were raised to meet building costs of $102,000.00

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES "Newburyport Daily News and Newburyport Herald" - May 31, 1978 History of Post Office Construction 1900-1940, July, 1982 Boston Public Library Files - no information on Arthur Shorrick Newburyport Daily News - 5/31/28; 1/10-28/4-11-85 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY 0.358 UTM REFERENCES A|1,9| 13/2,7/6,0d 1416/9/3/81410 ZONE EASTING NORTHING LILL LleLul VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION ZONE EATIN Lulu ORTHIN Southeast to Northwest - 137' along Pleasant Street Northeast to Southwest - 130' along Green Street Northwest to Southeast - 115' along rear lot line Southwest to Northeast - 112' along side lot line LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES STATE CODE COUNTY CODE STATE CODE COUNTY CODE 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME / TITLE Steven M. Smith, Project Manager ORGANIZATION SULLIVAN DESIGN GROUP, INC.

STREET & NUMBER 44 Adams Street CITY OR TOWN Braintree DATE September 24, 198. TELEPHONE (617) 848-1545 STATE Massachusetts 02184 12 CERTIFICATION OF NOMINATION STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER RECOMMENDATION YES NO vauue aemape STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE In compliance with Executive Order 11593, I hereby nominate this property to the National Register, certifying that the State Historic Preservation Officer has been allowed 90 days in which to present the nomination to the State Review Board and to evaluate its significance. The evaluated level of agnifigance is _Local. FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE SIGNATURE 2. Damo TITLE Realty Speciali Senior DATE 4/29/86 FOR NPS USE ONLY Natlick Andlus I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER DATE DIRECIOR.

OFFICE OF ARCHEOLOGY AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION TEST:/ DATE 6/18/86 6-16-86 KEEPER OF THE NATIONAL REGISTER GPO 899-214 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form UMU tV. EXp. 10-31-84 -VUIO For NPS use only recelved date entered Continuation sheet Newburyport Main Post Officfem number 8 Page 2 Construction began in July, 1927 and the building was opened on May 31, 1928, making it the first permanent postal location in the city. The Newburyport Post Office is symbolic of Newburyport's prosperity during the late 1920's. In 1928 a major industrial developemnt was completed in buildings on Warren/ Kent Streets in the former property of N.D. Dodge Shoe Company. Seventy-five thousand (75,000) square feet of floor space was rénted to shoe factories and a rain coat company along with smaller shops.

In addition a large branch of the 5 cents Savings Bank was opened in Newburyport in February, 1928. In April, 1985 the Newburyport Main Post Office Building received a $90,000.00 face lift. It was repointed by the Alan Tisbert Masonry Co. of Methuen. The three month project included the repair of its slate roof. Compatibility with its surroundings was once again an important issue as it was "spruced up to match the rest of the downtown." The repairs were supervised by the real estate division at Lexington, MA 1 - Public Lobby 2 - Service Counter 3 - Postmaster's Office 4- Workroom 5 - Mail Platform RESIDENCE/OFFICE 87' 28' CHURCH 130' 17' 95' BROWN SQUARE PARK RETAIL 2 GREEN ST. 137' PLEASANT STREET CHURCH PARKING RETAIL CITY HALL Italian Villa Style 1851 UNITED STATES POST OFFICE - NEWBURYPORT, MASSACHUSETTS RETAIL RETAIL U. S.

Post Office--Newburyport Main Essex County MASSACHUSETTS -resubmission - nomination by person or local government - owner objection - appeal Substantive Review: *sample -request -appeal Reviewer's comments: enseant Yeorsan Kerial style reflective of rewlory? the firsk office me the cite. - technical corrections cited below _substantive reasons discussed below UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES EVALUATION/RETURN SHEET 86001341 Substantive Review MAY, 1 2 1986 Working No._ Fed. Reg. Date: 2/3/87 Date Due:6/13/86-6/26/86 Action: LACCEPT- 6-18-86 - RETURN REJECT Federal Agency: USPS -NR decision Recom./Criteria Accept C4n Reviewer avaze Daci ino erclifectenal History 6-16-86 - see continuation sheet Nomination returned for: - 1. Name 2. Location 3. Classification Category Ownership Public Acquisition 4. Owner of Property 5.

Location of Legal Description 6. Representation in Existing Surveys Has this property been determined eligible? 1. Description yes Condition -excellent -good Ufair deteriorated J ruins J unexposed Describe the present and original (if known) physical appearance - summary paragraph - completeness clarity JJ alterations/integrity dates - boundary selection Status Accessible Present Use - no Check one -unaltered Laltered Check one -original site -moved date - 8. Significance Period Areas of Significance-Check and justify below Specific dates Builder/Architect Statement of Significance (in one paragraph) summary paragraphyAM completeness clarity applicable criteria justification of areas checked relating significance to the resource context relationship of integrity to significance justification of exception other etadDu 9. Major Bibliographical References 10.

Geographical Data Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name UTM References Verbal boundary description and justification 11. Form Prepared By 12. State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: _ national state local State Historic Preservation Officer signature title date 13. Other Maps -Photographs Other Questions concerning this nomination may be directed to - Signed . Date - Phone: _ Comments for any item may be continued on an attached sheet Newburyport Post Office NEWBURYPORT MAIN POST OFFICE Newburyport, MA David R. Hooker Earl R. Flansburgh and Associates Sept. 1982 Front elevtion. Right view NELED SEAFES Newburyport Post Office NEWBURYPORT MAIN POST OFFICE Newburyport, MA David R. Hooker Earl R. Flansburgh and Associates Sept.

1982 Front elevation RIGHT TURN ONLY ED TITE Newburyport post Office NEWBURYPORT MAIN POST OFFICE Newburyport, MA David R. Hooker Earl R. Flansburgh and Associates Sept. 1982 Front elevation. Left view HAVERHILL 95 INTERSTATE itOONOnini 4744 50' KO 4743 4742 WEST) CORPORATE PEAWAL 1570 WBUR 3 4741 Oak Hillo Cem 4740 L PARKEY '30" HANOVERL Newbur 4739 BOSION BRIDGE Long H.ll Cem COUNTY..

ROAD Hope ('hape BE Browns Point Drive-in - Theater Gravel Pit Allen Rock Tol -eet Allen - Róck BALISBURY BRacHl STATE: RESERVATIO poyS Maplewood Cem gured ROAD Radio Tower (WNBD) Morrill cr Black Lookout Tower XBM12: *Badgers Röck Eunt Rock * Black: *BM Rocks i Flat Rings Island Coffia Point -RIVER- Newburyport Ligh *oLight BOUNDARY -MERRIMACK- Sewage Disposal FLATS NEWBURYPORT Joppa JOPPA Woodbridge Island Tidal Flat First Rarish Burying Grounk BOUNDARY Chacesi Seal 1 CORPORATE Plumbush LANE BM: TURNPIKE: "TPLUM BM 11 ITTLES Landing Strip - ISLAND Plumbush Creek + Little Pine Island STREET Little Pine Istand GATES POSTA UNITE FIELD REAL ESTATE AND BUILDINGS OFFICE P.O. Box 324 Lexington, MA 02173-0324 August 27, 1985 The Honorable Richard Sullivan Mayor, City of Newburyport Newburyport City Hall Pleasant Street Newburyport, MA 01950 Dear Mayor Sullivan: The U. S.

Postal Service, in conjunction with the Massachusetts State Historic Preservation Officer in Boston, has evaluated the Main Post Office in Newburyport and has determined it is significant from an historical viewpoint. In view of the above evaluation, the U. S. Postal Service intends to nominate this building to the National Register of Historic Places. We would, prior to our taking formal action, appreciate receiving your concurrence. If you concur with our proposed action, kindly return a signed copy of this letter in the enclosed envelope. Thade Gregory Gilleland General Manager Concur: Enclosure Guberd Shallon. Moyoe JPC/phw RECEIVED U.S. POSTAL SERVICE SEP 9 |/ 30 PM$85 NEW ENGLAND FIELD REAL ESTATE C BAL S. OFFCE LEXINCTOA 02173 SATES POSTA UNITED U.S.MAIL SERVICE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE 475 L'Enfant Plaza, SW Washington, DC 20260 May 7, 1986 Ms. Carol D.

Shull Chief of Registration National Register of Historic Places National Park Service Department of Interior Washington, D.C. 20240-1002 Dear Ms. Shull: The Postal Service hereby submits a nomination for the post office located at 61 Pleasant Street, Essex County, Newburyport, Massachusetts. If you have questions concerning this nomination, please call me at 202/268-3107. Sincerely, Sorenson Senior Enclosure MAY | 2 1986