Postal Square Building
- Architect
- Daniel Burnham
- Year
- 1914
- Style
- Beaux-Arts
- City
- Washington, DC
- Collection
- the city beautiful
The Postal Square Building, completed in 1914 as the City Post Office, was designed by Daniel Burnham in the Beaux-Arts style — the same style he used for the neighboring Union Station. Construction began in 1911 on a site chosen under a 1901 Senate Parks Commission plan to frame the northern end of the Capitol complex with a set of grand buildings.
the building
Part of a three-building plan. The building was the second piece of a 1901 Senate Parks Commission proposal calling for three structures to mark the northern end of the Capitol complex. Union Station and the Postal Square Building were both completed early in the 20th century, but the full plan wasn't realized until the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judiciary Building was finished in 1992.
A stripped-down interior. A major renovation from 1929 to 1935 expanded the building for greater mail-processing capacity. By the 1950s, further renovations had removed many of Burnham's original Beaux-Arts features, leaving only traces of the former grandeur in the main hall and lobby.
the style
Burnham used the same Beaux-Arts vocabulary here that he applied to Washington Union Station next door, giving the two buildings a matched civic presence at the northern gateway to the Capitol grounds.
More on Beaux-Artsthe architect
Daniel Burnham was among the most influential American architects and planners of his generation, known for Chicago's 1893 World's Fair and for large Beaux-Arts train stations and office buildings; the Postal Square Building and Union Station were companion commissions built at the same moment near the Capitol.
significance
The building served as Washington's main post office until 1986. It has since been converted to hold the National Postal Museum, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and offices of the United States Senate.
nearby
- Union Station and Plaza
- Saint Aloysius Catholic Church
- Senate Office Building (Russell Senate Office Building)
- United States Tax Court
- Germuiller Row
- Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company Warehouse