U.S. Post Office (Medina, New York)
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Post Office in Medina
, New York, is located at West Avenue and West Center Street (state highway
s 31E
and 63
). It is a brick building erected in the early 1930s, serving the ZIP Code
14103, covering the village of Medina and neighboring portions of the towns of Ridgeway
and Shelby
.
Its Colonial Revival
style
design is unique in the state, where many post office designs of the era were reused in different communities. Only in Salem, Indiana
, was the design known to have been reused. In 1989 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
along with many other present and former post offices in the state. It is one of only two listed on the Register in Orleans County
. The other is in Albion
.
house that once housed the village's historical society, now just up Prospect near the Ridgeway town hall. Across West Center Street is a former gas station that has been converted into a branch bank, surrounded with a parking lot.
To the east is the main commercial area of the village, later listed on the National Register itself as the Main Street Historic District
. On the west is a neighborhood with many of the village's older houses with a few more churches scattered among them. The terrain is generally level. There is a narrow grassy strip in front of the building, with small shrubs on the east and a large nut tree on the west. A driveway on the east leads to parking in the rear, also accessible from West Avenue north of the building.
The building itself is in two sections. On the south (front) is a one-story seven-by-one-bay
main block. Its smooth-faced ashlar
limestone
exposed basement has granite
-trimmed window wells with cast iron
railings. Above it the post office is faced in brick with rust and blue accents laid in English bond and quoin
ed at the corners. On top the hipped roof
is shingled in slate.
Stone trim on the facade
includes the flat windowsills, a belt course
at the attic line, corner blocks on the iron grilled vents above it corresponding to the windows below, and a denticulated molded
cornice
with played corbel
s above that alternate with recessed scalloping. Atop it is a very low parapet
, also stone, with a raised frontispiece
at the center featuring a carved stone eagle.
The side elevations have a similar treatment. On the north is a three-by-three-bay rectangular wing with flat roof and plain stone cornice. Its windows have the same trim. A small one-by-two-bay wing on the north has a mailing platform on the east side.
Stone steps lead up from the sidewalk to the main entrance, where a wheelchair ramp
goes off to the west. The main entrance door is flanked by partially engaged limestone Ionic
columns. Above it is a frieze
with "U.S. POST OFFICE" carved into it, flanked by carved rosette
s. Atop is a molded cornice in a Greek fret pattern topped by a broken pediment
with carved swan's neck, patera
and large acorn finial
.
The double glass doors open into an enameled vestibule with large windows and original interior doors. The lobby has mottled light brown marble wainscoting. Its plaster walls rise to a deep molded frieze and cornice at the ceiling. Other remaining original features are the grille above the door to the postmaster's office and the lockboxes. There is no mural or other public art
in the building.
. At that time it was operated out of Moore's Tavern, a frequent stopover for both packet boat
crews moored in the harbor created by the canal's bend at the village. By 1904 it had moved to rented space on West Center Street.
It was probably at that location in 1928 when Congress authorized a post office building for the village. After the Great Depression
began the next year the project was funded. The land was purchased and the existing commercial buildings demolished in early 1931, and the post office opened the following year.
James A. Wetmore
, the Supervising Architect
of the Treasury Department
, is credited as the designer. Since he was a lawyer with no architectural training appointed for political reasons, it is more likely that the real design was done by his next in command, Superintendent of Architects Louis A. Simon, who succeeded him as Supervising Architect until the office was abolished in 1939. Simon's design for the Medina post office is, like many others he designed for small towns in New York and other states at that time, in the Colonial Revival
style
.
Unlike many of those other designs, this particularly ornate one was not reused anywhere else in the state. The only other known instance of its use is in Salem, Indiana
. Some elements, such as the limestone belt course at attic level on a seven-bay front facade, did turn up on post offices in New York like the one in Saranac Lake
, not listed on the Register due to its extensive alterations.
Medina, New York
Medina is a village in the towns of Shelby and Ridgeway in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,415 at the 2000 census, making it the second most populous municipality in the county after Albion, the county seat. The village was named by its surveyor...
, New York, is located at West Avenue and West Center Street (state highway
State highway
State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...
s 31E
New York State Route 31E
New York State Route 31E is a state highway located in Western New York in the United States. It serves as a northerly alternate route of NY 31 between the village of Middleport in eastern Niagara County and the nearby village of Medina in Orleans County...
and 63
New York State Route 63
New York State Route 63 is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 15 and NY 21 in the village of Wayland in Steuben County. Its northern end is at a junction with NY 18 in the town...
). It is a brick building erected in the early 1930s, serving 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...
14103, covering the village of Medina and neighboring portions of the towns of Ridgeway
Ridgeway, New York
Ridgeway, New York is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 6,886 at the 2000 census. The name of the town is derived from "Ridge Road," an important highway in the 19th century....
and Shelby
Shelby, New York
Shelby, New York is a town in Orleans County, New York, United States. The population was 5,420 at the 2000 census.The Town of Shelby is located in southwest corner of Orleans County.- History :...
.
Its Colonial Revival
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...
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...
design is unique in the state, where many post office designs of the era were reused in different communities. Only in Salem, Indiana
Salem, Indiana
Salem is a city in Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana, United States. Salem serves as the county seat, and its downtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places...
, was the design known to have been reused. In 1989 it 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...
along with many other present and former post offices in the state. It is one of only two listed on the Register in Orleans County
Orleans County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 44,171 people, 15,363 households, and 10,846 families residing in the county. The population density was 113 people per square mile . There were 17,347 housing units at an average density of 44 per square mile...
. The other is in Albion
U.S. Post Office (Albion, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Albion, New York, is located on South Main Street in the center of town. It serves the 14411 ZIP Code, covering the village and town of Albion plus neighboring sections of the towns of Barre and Gaines....
.
Building
The post office is located on the northeast corner of the intersection, on the western edge of downtown Medina, where commercial buildings transition to the residential areas of the village. The stone First Baptist Church, built in 1873, is on the southwest corner. On the northwest is an ItalianateItalianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
house that once housed the village's historical society, now just up Prospect near the Ridgeway town hall. Across West Center Street is a former gas station that has been converted into a branch bank, surrounded with a parking lot.
To the east is the main commercial area of the village, later listed on the National Register itself as the Main Street Historic District
Main Street Historic District (Medina, New York)
The Main Street Historic District in Medina, New York, United States, is the downtown commercial core of the village. It is a area stretching south along Main Street from the Erie Canal to the railroad tracks....
. On the west is a neighborhood with many of the village's older houses with a few more churches scattered among them. The terrain is generally level. There is a narrow grassy strip in front of the building, with small shrubs on the east and a large nut tree on the west. A driveway on the east leads to parking in the rear, also accessible from West Avenue north of the building.
The building itself is in two sections. On the south (front) is a one-story seven-by-one-bay
Bay (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:...
main block. Its smooth-faced ashlar
Ashlar
Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...
limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
exposed basement has 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...
-trimmed window wells with cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
railings. Above it the post office is faced in brick with rust and blue accents laid in English bond and quoin
Quoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
ed at the corners. On top the 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...
is shingled in slate.
Stone trim on the 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"....
includes the flat windowsills, a belt course
Course (architecture)
A course is a continuous horizontal layer of similarly-sized building material one unit high, usually in a wall. The term is almost always used in conjunction with unit masonry such as brick, cut stone, or concrete masonry units .-Styles:...
at the attic line, corner blocks on the iron grilled vents above it corresponding to the windows below, and a denticulated 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...
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...
with played corbel
Corbel
In architecture a corbel is a piece of stone jutting out of a wall to carry any superincumbent weight. A piece of timber projecting in the same way was called a "tassel" or a "bragger". The technique of corbelling, where rows of corbels deeply keyed inside a wall support a projecting wall or...
s above that alternate with recessed scalloping. Atop it is a very low 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...
, also stone, with a raised frontispiece
Frontispiece (architecture)
In architecture, a frontispiece is the combination of elements that frame and decorate the main, or front, door to a building. The term is especially used when the main entrance is the chief face of the building rather than being kept behind columns or a portico. Early German churches often...
at the center featuring a carved stone eagle.
The side elevations have a similar treatment. On the north is a three-by-three-bay rectangular wing with flat roof and plain stone cornice. Its windows have the same trim. A small one-by-two-bay wing on the north has a mailing platform on the east side.
Stone steps lead up from the sidewalk to the main entrance, where a wheelchair ramp
Wheelchair ramp
A wheelchair ramp is an inclined plane installed in addition to or instead of stairs. Ramps permit wheelchair users, as well as people pushing strollers, carts, or other wheeled objects, to more easily access a building....
goes off to the west. The main entrance door is flanked by partially engaged limestone Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
columns. Above it is a 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...
with "U.S. POST OFFICE" carved into it, flanked by carved rosette
Rosette (design)
A rosette is a round, stylized flower design, used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity. Appearing in Mesopotamia and used to decorate the funeral stele in Ancient Greece...
s. Atop is a molded cornice in a Greek fret pattern topped by a broken pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
with carved swan's neck, patera
Patera
A patera was a broad, shallow dish used for drinking, primarily in a ritual context such as a libation. These paterae were often used in Rome....
and large acorn finial
Finial
The finial is an architectural device, typically carved in stone and employed decoratively to emphasize the apex of a gable or any of various distinctive ornaments at the top, end, or corner of a building or structure. Smaller finials can be used as a decorative ornament on the ends of curtain rods...
.
The double glass doors open into an enameled vestibule with large windows and original interior doors. The lobby has mottled light brown marble wainscoting. Its plaster walls rise to a deep molded frieze and cornice at the ceiling. Other remaining original features are the grille above the door to the postmaster's office and the lockboxes. There is no mural or other 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...
in the building.
History
Medina's first post office was established in 1824, just before the opening of the Erie CanalErie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
. At that time it was operated out of Moore's Tavern, a frequent stopover for both packet boat
Packet boat
Packet boats were small boats designed for domestic mail, passenger and freight transportation in Europe and its colonies, including North American rivers and canals...
crews moored in the harbor created by the canal's bend at the village. By 1904 it had moved to rented space on West Center Street.
It was probably at that location in 1928 when Congress authorized a post office building for the village. After the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
began the next year the project was funded. The land was purchased and the existing commercial buildings demolished in early 1931, and the post office opened the following year.
James A. Wetmore
James A. Wetmore
James A. Wetmore was an American lawyer and administrator, best known as the Acting Supervising Architect of the U.S. Office of the Supervising Architect from 1915 through 1933. Wetmore is frequently and incorrectly described as the "architect" of the many federal buildings that bear his...
, the Supervising Architect
Office of the Supervising Architect
The Office of the Supervising Architect was an agency of the United States Treasury Department that designed federal government buildings from 1852 to 1939....
of the Treasury Department
United States Department of the Treasury
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue...
, is credited as the designer. Since he was a lawyer with no architectural training appointed for political reasons, it is more likely that the real design was done by his next in command, Superintendent of Architects Louis A. Simon, who succeeded him as Supervising Architect until the office was abolished in 1939. Simon's design for the Medina post office is, like many others he designed for small towns in New York and other states at that time, in the Colonial Revival
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...
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...
.
Unlike many of those other designs, this particularly ornate one was not reused anywhere else in the state. The only other known instance of its use is in Salem, Indiana
Salem, Indiana
Salem is a city in Washington Township, Washington County, Indiana, United States. Salem serves as the county seat, and its downtown area is on the National Register of Historic Places...
. Some elements, such as the limestone belt course at attic level on a seven-bay front facade, did turn up on post offices in New York like the one in Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
, not listed on the Register due to its extensive alterations.