U.S. Post Office (Nyack, New York)
Encyclopedia
The U.S. Post Office in Nyack
, New York, is located on South Broadway in the center of the village. It serves the 10960 ZIP Code
, which covers South Nyack
and Upper Nyack
in addition to the village.
It was built in 1932 in the Classical Revival
architectural style
, a mode rarely used for American post offices between the wars
. In the front lobby are several mural
s depicting scenes from local history. In 1988 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and in 2004 it was renamed to honor three victims of the 1981 Brinks robbery
.
It is a one-story building of buff-colored
brick in Flemish bond on a raised limestone
-clad basement. The east (front) elevation is a central pavilion five bays
wide with single-bay wings on either end. Limestone is also used for its quoin
s and window trim, including recessed panels above and below each one. A cornice of that material with blocks and parapet
marks the roofline. "UNITED STATES POST OFFICE NYACK NEW YORK 10960" is set in gilded metallic letters on the frieze
.
The three-bay side wings have similar limestone decorations save the cornice and recessed panels. The four-bay rear ends in a loading dock
.
A set of stairs with neoclassical bronze
railings and low stone walls with claw-footed tripod lamps leads up to the centrally located main entrance. They lead to a single metal and glass door, with transom
of similar material, recessed between two fluted
Doric
pilaster
s with a full Doric entablature
. After passing through a wooden vestibule
and small foyer
, they open onto a lobby floored with terrazzo
in a checkerboard
pattern and grey-veined white marble wainscoting to a height of seven feet (2.3 m) on the plaster walls, which have a decorative cornice
.
On all sides but the west, there are mural
s by Jacob Getlar Smith of scenes from local history: Native Americans
watching Henry Hudson
sailing upriver in the Halve Maen
, Dutch settlers
building a log cabin
and John André
meeting Benedict Arnold
. The north and east murals have decorative grille
s as well. Two original circular bronze-and-glass customer tables remain.
distance of New York City, and grew as residents who had previously come for the summer built large houses overlooking the Hudson River
to the east and lived there year-round.
Congress authorized a permanent post office for the village in 1910, but it was never built. In 1926 it was reauthorized and, as the Great Depression
started, construction finally began in 1931. It was opened the following year.
It was designed under the leadership of James Wetmore, then Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department
. Wetmore was primarily a lawyer, and the actual artistic direction of the Treasury at the time was set by Louis Simon, who became Supervising Architect himself in 1935. The choice of a building so firmly in the Classical Revival style is an unusual one for the time. After World War I
, the Treasury, which oversaw the design and construction of post offices and many other government buildings, began preferring the newer Colonial Revival style for its post offices, particularly those in small towns like Nyack. Neoclassical touches were often combined with modernist
forms for post offices in larger cities (such as Troy's
).
Smith's murals were added in 1936. He had planned for them to cover all walls and be complemented by a series of smaller panels above the tellers' booths. If those were ever completed and installed, they have since been removed.
The interior has been altered only by the addition of modern heating systems and lockboxes. On the outside, a new door has replaced the original double bronze doors and a wheelchair ramp
has been installed across the front of the building to comply with wheelchair accessibility requirements.
In 2004 Senator Charles Schumer
and Representative Eliot Engel secured passage of legislation officially renaming the post office in memory of Waverly Brown
, Edward O'Grady II
, and Peter Paige, two local police officers and a security guard killed by members of the Black Liberation Army during the 1981 Brinks robbery
at nearby Nanuet Mall
. A ceremony was held in May of that year, at which relatives of the deceased spoke.
Nyack, New York
Nyack is a village in the towns of Orangetown and Clarkstown in Rockland County, New York, United States, located north of South Nyack; east of Central Nyack; south of Upper Nyack and west of the Hudson River, approximately 19 miles north of the Manhattan boundary, it is an inner suburb of New...
, New York, is located on South Broadway in the center of the village. It serves the 10960 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...
, which covers South Nyack
South Nyack, New York
South Nyack is a village in the town of Orangetown in Rockland County, New York, located north of Grand View-on-Hudson; northeast of Orangeburg; east of Blauvelt State Park; south of the village of Nyack and west of the Hudson River...
and Upper Nyack
Upper Nyack, New York
Upper Nyack is a village in the town of Clarkstown Rockland County, New York, United States located north of the village of Nyack; east of West Nyack; south of Rockland Lake State Park and west of the Hudson River. The population was 1,863 at the 2000 census....
in addition to the village.
It was built in 1932 in the Classical Revival
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...
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...
, a mode rarely used for American post offices between the wars
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
. In the front lobby are several mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s depicting scenes from local history. In 1988 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...
, and in 2004 it was renamed to honor three victims of the 1981 Brinks robbery
Brinks robbery (1981)
The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery committed on October 20, 1981, which was carried out by Black Liberation Army members; including Jeral Wayne Williams , Donald Weems , Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Burns , Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown ; several former members of the Weather...
.
Building
The post office is situated near the northwest corner of the intersection of Broadway and Hudson Avenue. The neighborhood is a mix of commercial, residential and institutional properties. A row of three-story brick buildings faces it from the south side of Hudson. A house is located on the north side of its driveway.It is a one-story building of buff-colored
Buff (colour)
Buff is a pale yellow-brown colour that got its name from the colour of buff leather.Displayed on the right is the colour buff.EtymologyAccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, buff as a descriptor of a colour was first used in the London Gazette of 1686, describing a uniform to be "A Red Coat...
brick in Flemish bond on a raised 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....
-clad basement. The east (front) elevation is a central pavilion five bays
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:...
wide with single-bay wings on either end. Limestone is also used for its 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...
s and window trim, including recessed panels above and below each one. A cornice of that material with blocks and 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...
marks the roofline. "UNITED STATES POST OFFICE NYACK NEW YORK 10960" is set in gilded metallic letters on the 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...
.
The three-bay side wings have similar limestone decorations save the cornice and recessed panels. The four-bay rear ends in a loading dock
Loading dock
A loading dock is a recessed bay in a building or facility where trucks are loaded and unloaded. They are commonly found on commercial and industrial buildings, and warehouses in particular....
.
A set of stairs with neoclassical bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
railings and low stone walls with claw-footed tripod lamps leads up to the centrally located main entrance. They lead to a single metal and glass door, with transom
Transom (architectural)
In architecture, a transom is the term given to a transverse beam or bar in a frame, or to the crosspiece separating a door or the like from a window or fanlight above it. Transom is also the customary U.S. word used for a transom light, the window over this crosspiece...
of similar material, recessed between two 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...
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:...
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 with a full Doric 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 ,...
. After passing through 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...
and small foyer
Foyer
A foyer or lobby is a large, vast room or complex of rooms adjacent to the auditorium...
, they open onto a lobby floored 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...
in a checkerboard
Checkerboard
A checkerboard or chequerboard is a board of chequered pattern on which English draughts is played. It is an 8×8 board and the 64 squares are of alternating dark and light color, often red and black....
pattern and grey-veined white marble wainscoting to a height of seven feet (2.3 m) on the plaster walls, which have a decorative 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...
.
On all sides but the west, there are mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s by Jacob Getlar Smith of scenes from local history: Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
watching Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
sailing upriver in the Halve Maen
Halve Maen
The Halve Maen was a Dutch East India Company vlieboot which sailed into what is now New York harbor in September 1609. It was commissioned by the Dutch Republic to covertly find an eastern passage to China...
, Dutch settlers
Dutch colonization of the Americas
Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 , the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s...
building a log cabin
Log cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
and John André
John André
John André was a British army officer hanged as a spy during the American War of Independence. This was due to an incident in which he attempted to assist Benedict Arnold's attempted surrender of the fort at West Point, New York to the British.-Early life:André was born on May 2, 1750 in London to...
meeting Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold
Benedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War. He began the war in the Continental Army but later defected to the British Army. While a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted to surrender it to the British forces...
. The north and east murals have decorative grille
Grille
A grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-Spelling:In the United States, "grille" is used to differentiate the automotive...
s as well. Two original circular bronze-and-glass customer tables remain.
History
The first post office in the Nyacks was established as part of a store at a landing now in Upper Nyack, in 1835. When the Erie Railroad was completed through the area in 1870, it was put within commutingCommuting
Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations when not work related.- History :...
distance of New York City, and grew as residents who had previously come for the summer built large houses overlooking the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
to the east and lived there year-round.
Congress authorized a permanent post office for the village in 1910, but it was never built. In 1926 it was reauthorized and, as 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...
started, construction finally began in 1931. It was opened the following year.
It was designed under the leadership of James Wetmore, then Acting Supervising Architect 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...
. Wetmore was primarily a lawyer, and the actual artistic direction of the Treasury at the time was set by Louis Simon, who became Supervising Architect himself in 1935. The choice of a building so firmly in the Classical Revival style is an unusual one for the time. After World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, the Treasury, which oversaw the design and construction of post offices and many other government buildings, began preferring the newer Colonial Revival style for its post offices, particularly those in small towns like Nyack. Neoclassical touches were often combined with modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
forms for post offices in larger cities (such as Troy's
U.S. Post Office (Troy, New York)
The U.S. Post Office in Troy, New York, United States, is located at 400 Broadway, on the corners of Fourth and William Streets, the tenth location it has occupied in the city's history. It serves the ZIP Codes 12179 through 12182, which cover different sections of the city...
).
Smith's murals were added in 1936. He had planned for them to cover all walls and be complemented by a series of smaller panels above the tellers' booths. If those were ever completed and installed, they have since been removed.
The interior has been altered only by the addition of modern heating systems and lockboxes. On the outside, a new door has replaced the original double bronze doors and 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....
has been installed across the front of the building to comply with wheelchair accessibility requirements.
In 2004 Senator Charles Schumer
Charles Schumer
Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer is the senior United States Senator from New York and a member of the Democratic Party. First elected in 1998, he defeated three-term Republican incumbent Al D'Amato by a margin of 55%–44%. He was easily re-elected in 2004 by a margin of 71%–24% and in 2010 by a...
and Representative Eliot Engel secured passage of legislation officially renaming the post office in memory of Waverly Brown
Waverly Brown
Waverly L. Brown was a Nyack, New York police officer who was killed in the line of duty during an infamous 1981 armed robbery of a Brinks Armored Car, along with fellow Nyack officer Edward O'Grady II and Brinks security guard Peter Paige...
, Edward O'Grady II
Edward O'Grady II
Edward O'Grady II was born in Nyack, New York. After graduating high school, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served two tours of service in the Vietnam War. O'Grady joined the Nyack Police department after his discharge and also worked as a volunteer fire fighter with the Nyack fire...
, and Peter Paige, two local police officers and a security guard killed by members of the Black Liberation Army during the 1981 Brinks robbery
Brinks robbery (1981)
The Brink's robbery of 1981 was an armed robbery committed on October 20, 1981, which was carried out by Black Liberation Army members; including Jeral Wayne Williams , Donald Weems , Samuel Smith, Nathaniel Burns , Cecilio "Chui" Ferguson, Samuel Brown ; several former members of the Weather...
at nearby Nanuet Mall
Nanuet Mall
The Nanuet Mall is a Simon operated mall located at the intersection of Route 59 and Middletown Road in Nanuet, New York. The Nanuet Mall opened in 1969 and the original two anchor stores were Bamberger's and Sears...
. A ceremony was held in May of that year, at which relatives of the deceased spoke.