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U.S. Post Office (Hudson, New York)
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Post Office in Hudson
, New York, United States, is located on Union Street at the corner of South Fourth Street, just across from the Columbia County
courthouse. It serves the ZIP Code
12534, which covers the city of Hudson and surrounding areas of the Town of Greenport
.
It was built from 1909–11 in a combination of the Colonial
and Classical
Revival architectural style
s. The latter was used for the front portico, which echoes that of the slightly older county courthouse across the street. During the 1930s it was expanded in an architecturally sympathetic fashion, and public art
was added to its lobby. It is a contributing property
to the Hudson Historic District
, established in 1985. Three years later, in 1988, the post office was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in its own right, the only one in the county on the Register.
one-story building of brick laid in Flemish bond on a raised foundation
faced in granite
. It is capped with a low hipped roof
; the arched windows are trimmed in white marble with a block at the springline. A two-bay wing projects from the east, along the south facade
.
Along the west facade, on South Fourth, is a five-bay central pavilion
with slightly recessed wings. The main entrance is flanked by fluted
floral-topped wooden pilaster
s that support an entablature
with similarly foliated cornice
. Above it a plain frieze
reads "Hudson, N.Y., 12534." The entire entry is surrounded by a large arch with a decorated marble surround, featuring rosettes, an archivolt
with interlocking wooden circles. It is topped by an architrave
with carved gutta
e and a deep cornice with modillions. Atop it is a balustraded parapet
.
The south facade has a shallow single-bay portico
with paired Doric
columns supporting an entablature with triglyph
s and modillioned pediment. Its entrance is similar to the other facade. Granite steps lead up from the street.
Inside, the L-shaped lobby can be entered from both directions. From the south, a wooden vestibule
opens onto a space with terrazzo
floors bordered by white marble and inset panels, marble wainscoting and high ceiling. The plaster walls are divided by engaged fluted wooden pilasters topped by egg-and-dart
–molded
capitals
. Above them is a cornice with similar molding, with a five-paneled cast stone
relief
, "The History of Transportation", above the door to the postmaster's office.
The east portion of the lobby is less detailed. Its vestibule's inner door has a similar treatment as the western exterior entrance. Bronze customer tables are original.
in 1785, mail to and from the community was handled by the post office in nearby Claverack
, then the county seat
. The village gained its own post office in 1793, run from a store on Warren Street. Later it was in another store on the same street.
This was the building still in use in 1906 when Congress allocated $75,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) for the construction of a new post office opposite the recently constructed courthouse and near the city's other public buildings. Two years later the site was purchased for $15,000.
James Knox Taylor
, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, designed the building, one of many post offices in New York he is responsible for. He had begun introducing classical
and Renaissance
elements into post office design, to express a return to the democratic ideals of the Founders
. In Hudson, he put two classically-inspired porticos on a basic Colonial Revival brick main block. They shared many details, such as the paired columns, modillion blocks and parapet, with the recently built Warren and Wetmore
-designed county courthouse across the square.
Construction was supposed to have been finished by August 1910 but instead it was not done until almost a year and a half later, in December 1911, at a cost of $58,576 ($ in contemporary dollars). In the early 1930s an addition was authorized due to local growth. It required the purchase of more land to the east and the demolition of the house on it. In 1938 it was completed for $99,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). During that construction, the Vincent Glinsky "Evolution of Transportation" sculpture was added to the lobby through the Treasury Relief Art Program.
During this work some of the original windows and vents were bricked over, and the current bronze handrail on the outdoor steps added. A quarter-century later, in 1963, when the outdoor steps were replaced, the original lampposts were removed as well. There have been no other significant changes to the building other than those.
Hudson, New York
Hudson is a city located along the west border of Columbia County, New York, United States. The city is named after the adjacent Hudson River and ultimately after the explorer Henry Hudson.Hudson is the county seat of Columbia County...
, New York, United States, is located on Union Street at the corner of South Fourth Street, just across from the Columbia County
Columbia County, New York
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,096. The county seat is Hudson. The name comes from the Latin feminine form of the name of Christopher Columbus, which was at the time of the formation of the county a popular proposal...
courthouse. It serves the ZIP Code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
12534, which covers the city of Hudson and surrounding areas of the Town of Greenport
Greenport, New York
Greenport, New York may refer to:*Greenport, Columbia County, New York*Greenport, Suffolk County, New York...
.
It was built from 1909–11 in a combination of the Colonial
Colonial Revival architecture
The Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
and Classical
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
Revival architectural style
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
s. The latter was used for the front portico, which echoes that of the slightly older county courthouse across the street. During the 1930s it was expanded in an architecturally sympathetic fashion, and public art
Public art
The term public art properly refers to works of art in any media that have been planned and executed with the specific intention of being sited or staged in the physical public domain, usually outside and accessible to all...
was added to its lobby. It is a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
to the Hudson Historic District
Hudson Historic District (New York)
The Hudson Historic District includes most of downtown Hudson, New York, United States, once called "one of the richest dictionaries of architectural history in New York State". It is a area stretching from the city's waterfront on the east bank of the Hudson River to almost its eastern boundary,...
, established in 1985. Three years later, in 1988, the post office was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in its own right, the only one in the county on the Register.
Building
The post office is a seven-by-five-bayBay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
one-story building of brick laid in Flemish bond on a raised foundation
Foundation (architecture)
A foundation is the lowest and supporting layer of a structure. Foundations are generally divided into two categories: shallow foundations and deep foundations.-Shallow foundations:...
faced in granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
. It is capped with a low hipped roof
Hip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
; the arched windows are trimmed in white marble with a block at the springline. A two-bay wing projects from the east, along the south facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
.
Along the west facade, on South Fourth, is a five-bay central pavilion
Pavilion (structure)
In architecture a pavilion has two main meanings.-Free-standing structure:Pavilion may refer to a free-standing structure sited a short distance from a main residence, whose architecture makes it an object of pleasure. Large or small, there is usually a connection with relaxation and pleasure in...
with slightly recessed wings. The main entrance is flanked by fluted
Fluting (architecture)
Fluting in architecture refers to the shallow grooves running vertically along a surface.It typically refers to the grooves running on a column shaft or a pilaster, but need not necessarily be restricted to those two applications...
floral-topped wooden pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
s that support an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
with similarly foliated cornice
Cornice
Cornice molding is generally any horizontal decorative molding that crowns any building or furniture element: the cornice over a door or window, for instance, or the cornice around the edge of a pedestal. A simple cornice may be formed just with a crown molding.The function of the projecting...
. Above it a plain frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
reads "Hudson, N.Y., 12534." The entire entry is surrounded by a large arch with a decorated marble surround, featuring rosettes, an archivolt
Archivolt
An archivolt is an ornamental molding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental moldings surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening...
with interlocking wooden circles. It is topped by an architrave
Architrave
An architrave is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of the columns. It is an architectural element in Classical architecture.-Classical architecture:...
with carved gutta
Gutta
A gutta is a small water-repelling, cone-shaped projection used in the architrave of the Doric order in classical architecture. At the top of the architrave blocks, a row of six guttae below the narrow projection of the taenia and cymatium formed an element called a regula...
e and a deep cornice with modillions. Atop it is a balustraded parapet
Parapet
A parapet is a wall-like barrier at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony or other structure. Where extending above a roof, it may simply be the portion of an exterior wall that continues above the line of the roof surface, or may be a continuation of a vertical feature beneath the roof such as a...
.
The south facade has a shallow single-bay portico
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...
with paired Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
columns supporting an entablature with triglyph
Triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze, so called because of the angular channels in them, two perfect and one divided, the two chamfered angles or hemiglyphs being reckoned as one. The square recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric...
s and modillioned pediment. Its entrance is similar to the other facade. Granite steps lead up from the street.
Inside, the L-shaped lobby can be entered from both directions. From the south, a wooden vestibule
Vestibule (architecture)
A vestibule is a lobby, entrance hall, or passage between the entrance and the interior of a building.The same term can apply to structures in modern or ancient roman architecture. In modern architecture vestibule typically refers to a small room or hall between an entrance and the interior of...
opens onto a space with terrazzo
Terrazzo
Terrazzo is a composite material poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of marble, quartz, granite, glass or other suitable chips, sprinkled or unsprinkled, and poured with a binder that is cementitious, chemical or a combination of both...
floors bordered by white marble and inset panels, marble wainscoting and high ceiling. The plaster walls are divided by engaged fluted wooden pilasters topped by egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart
Egg-and-dart or Egg-and-tongue is an ornamental device often carved in wood, stone, or plaster quarter-round ovolo mouldings, consisting of an egg-shaped object alternating with an element shaped like an arrow, anchor or dart. Egg-and-dart enrichment of the ovolo molding of the Ionic capital is...
–molded
Molding (decorative)
Molding or moulding is a strip of material with various profiles used to cover transitions between surfaces or for decoration. It is traditionally made from solid milled wood or plaster but may be made from plastic or reformed wood...
capitals
Capital (architecture)
In architecture the capital forms the topmost member of a column . It mediates between the column and the load thrusting down upon it, broadening the area of the column's supporting surface...
. Above them is a cornice with similar molding, with a five-paneled cast stone
Cast stone
Cast stone is defined as “a refined architectural concrete building unit manufactured to simulate natural cut stone, used in unit masonry applications”. In the UK and Europe cast stone is defined as “any material manufactured with aggregate and cementitious binder, intended to resemble in...
relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
, "The History of Transportation", above the door to the postmaster's office.
The east portion of the lobby is less detailed. Its vestibule's inner door has a similar treatment as the western exterior entrance. Bronze customer tables are original.
History
At the time of Hudson's incorporationMunicipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
in 1785, mail to and from the community was handled by the post office in nearby Claverack
Claverack, New York
Claverack is a town in Columbia County, New York, United States. The population was 6,401 at the 2000 census. The town name is a corruption for the Dutch word for "Clover Fields" or "Clover Reach"....
, then the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....
. The village gained its own post office in 1793, run from a store on Warren Street. Later it was in another store on the same street.
This was the building still in use in 1906 when Congress allocated $75,000 ($ in contemporary dollars) for the construction of a new post office opposite the recently constructed courthouse and near the city's other public buildings. Two years later the site was purchased for $15,000.
James Knox Taylor
James Knox Taylor
James Knox Taylor was Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury from 1897 to 1912. His name is listed ex officio as supervising architect of hundreds of federal buildings built throughout the United States during the period.-Early career:The son of H...
, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, designed the building, one of many post offices in New York he is responsible for. He had begun introducing classical
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
and Renaissance
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of ancient Greek and Roman thought and material culture. Stylistically, Renaissance...
elements into post office design, to express a return to the democratic ideals of the Founders
Founding Fathers of the United States
The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were political leaders and statesmen who participated in the American Revolution by signing the United States Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American Revolutionary War, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some...
. In Hudson, he put two classically-inspired porticos on a basic Colonial Revival brick main block. They shared many details, such as the paired columns, modillion blocks and parapet, with the recently built Warren and Wetmore
Warren and Wetmore
Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm in New York City. It was a partnership between Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore , that had one of the most extensive practices of its time and was known for the designing of large hotels.Whitney Warren was a cousin of the Vanderbilts and spent ten...
-designed county courthouse across the square.
Construction was supposed to have been finished by August 1910 but instead it was not done until almost a year and a half later, in December 1911, at a cost of $58,576 ($ in contemporary dollars). In the early 1930s an addition was authorized due to local growth. It required the purchase of more land to the east and the demolition of the house on it. In 1938 it was completed for $99,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). During that construction, the Vincent Glinsky "Evolution of Transportation" sculpture was added to the lobby through the Treasury Relief Art Program.
During this work some of the original windows and vents were bricked over, and the current bronze handrail on the outdoor steps added. A quarter-century later, in 1963, when the outdoor steps were replaced, the original lampposts were removed as well. There have been no other significant changes to the building other than those.