US Post Office--Central Square

_PHYSICAL APPEARANCE_ The building is surrounded on three sides by a granite wall; the site slopes down towards the rear. In plan, the Post Office is fronted with a wide vestibule and public lobby flanked by the Postmaster's office and second floor stairway to the left and various service areas for the workers to the right. Beyond the service acreen is the workroom, mail vestibule and platform. Nine wide granite steps with a landing create the main approach to the building. They are flanked by wing walls which terminate with a block-like pedestal base inset with a decorative panel and topped with a series of low, "stubby" wrought-iron lantern fixtures. The building's base slightly projects, topped with a thin band of Virginia black serpentine marble.

The front of the building is a two-story public-access block which is attached to a large one-story (plus basement wing) work area. The front (northeast) elevation is an eleven-bay, steel-framed structure with a three-bay central The metal-framed wing windows are within deeply recessed vertical slots running from base to entablature; the different floors; are marked by a metal spandrel panel with an infill of Virginia black serpentine marble and a centered square of cast white metal with Art Deco detailing. The windows pivot open in a casement fashion. Four wide, flat pilasters mark the entrance pavilion; they are acalloped and topped with simple capitals with a modified Greek key motif.

A plain architrave frames each of the three sets of entry doors; above are recessed, wrought-iron framed windows with the same spandrel panels as in the flanking windows.

Alterations: 1974 Greco, Collaborating Architects John Baven Co., Inc. - Contractors Built in 1933, the Cambridge Main Post Office or Cambridge A Branch Post Office provided the first permanent home of the city's postal service. Situated across the street from the Richardsonian Romanesque Cambridge City Hall (1887), this buildings smooth streamlined, monodromatic classicism dramatically contrasts with the City Hall's rock faced granite walls, The Cambridge Main Post Office building should be considered eligible for nomination to the National Register of Historic Places by virtue of its siting, design and the Roelstor od Historso Faaos by witue d 0 contribution its construction made to Cambridge's economy during the Depression.

Architecturally, it represents a successful marriage of Classical tradition with the Art Deco style. Though bound by Classical tradition (particularly in its rigid symmetrical tripartite facade and its suggestion of pilasters and entablature) the building uses Classical elements in an unorthodox, almost self conscious way. Capitals are not really Capitals, though those over the central pilasters have Greek Lay motifs in a kind of parody of the Ionic. Granite ashlar masonry walls give a feeling of solidity and permanence important in public buildings constructed during the Depression. Art Deco influence is evident in the overall streamlined verticillately of its planar pilasters and window bays.

In addition, the stylized, seated sculptured figures at the center of the main facade parapet are also Art Deco in style. The Municipal Building at Western Avenue and Green Street and the Cambridge Main Post Office building are the only example of structures blending classical and art deco style in Cambridge. Behind the formal facade lies an interior which is designed to be formal and efficient.