US Post Office--Weymouth Landing

_PHYSICAL APPEARANCE_ The Weymouth Landing Post Office is located on one of Weymouth's main traffic routes, Washington Street. Over the years it has become a focal point for the shifting commercial district to the north. The once privately-owned residences around it have been converted to storefront properties, creating a small-scale commercial strip for the town. The building is set back from the street to not only give it a pleasant approach but also to integrate it's massiveness within the local context. The building and its grounds are in good condition. The Post Office is on the front portion of the lot with a paved vehicle maneuvering area to the rear and a driveway on the right side. The site is landscaped with lawn and shrubs.

In plan, the building is fronted by the public lobby with the Postmaster's office to the right. Behind the service sereen is the workroom with a separate building volume for the mail vestibule and platform beyond. Seven granite steps with wought-iron railings, which terminate with electric lampposts, create the main approach to the building. The front (northeast) elevation is a five-bay structure that uses simple projecting pilasters to create a three-bay central entrance. The elevations are composed of seam-faced Weymouth ashlar granite with a projecting ashlar base. A wood entablature with a denticulated cornice surrounds the building, conforming to the changing planes of the pilasters. The windows are double-hung, wood framed with 12/12 lights, granite lintels and sills.

Granite recessed panels extend down to the base. The entrance, in a segmental arched opening using granite voussoirs, contains quartered plain wood pilasters and engaged fluted Doric columns, both with a small granite base, supporting a denticulated frieze.

Built in 1940-1941, the Weymouth Landing Post Office in an area characterized by parking lots, low rise 19th/early 20th century houses. Architecturally it is sig- nificant as a structure which reflects nation-wide trends in government building design and construction during the 1930's and 1940's. Its compact form contains an efficient arrangement by public and work areas - economy, standardization and function- alism are important components in their building's plan. Local granite, rather than a more expensive imported stone was used in its construction in an effort to bolster the local economy. The choice of Colonial Revival rather than Classical Revival for its design may represent an historical reference to an early English settlement located in Weymouth during the early 1620's.

Although this building is not yet 50 years old, it would appear to be eligible for National Register of Historic Places status based primarily on its architectural significance. This building possesses a highly symmetrical main facade with Colonial Revival entrance treatments and a distinctive cupola at the center of its gable roof. Although blueprints date back to 1938, constrfuction began November 30, 1940. The cornerstone was laid on May 15, 1941 and reads "Frank C. Walker, Postmaster General; John M. Carmody, Federal Works Administrator; W. Englebert Reynolds, Commissioner of Public Buildings; Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect; Neal A. Melnick, Supervising Engineer,,1941." Constructed at a cost of $78,000.00, the dedication was held on October 23, 1941.

It was the first Federal building erected in Weymouth. Funding for this building was secured by Congressman Richard Wigglesworth (1891-1960). Born in Boston, he was educated at Milton Academy and Harvard (1912). He represented Weymouth in Congress from 1928-1958. The Weymouth Landing Post Office building was the first of three Federal projects erected in Weymouth during the early 1940's.