United States Post Office and Courthouse (New Bern, North Carolina, 1935)
Encyclopedia
The United States Post Office and Courthouse is a courthouse
of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
, located in New Bern, North Carolina
. The building was completed in 1935, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
in 1973, as a contributing building within the New Bern Historic District.
passed a resolution opposing the destruction of the John Wright Stanly House
, an 18th-century Georgian building on the proposed lot. Officials proceeded with the project after the City of New Bern agreed to purchase the 1897 building for its city hall, and the Stanly House was relocated.
Construction of the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse began in 1933. Local architect Robert F. Smallwood
designed the building, which opened on April 1, 1935, and cost $325,000 to build. At the time of its completion, it was one of the largest and most expensive buildings in the Eastern Carolina region. For a brief time, the new building also served as a custom house
. During World War II
, the United States Marine Corps Command Contingent occupied the second and third floors.
For much of its existence, matters addressed in the court were brought before John Davis Larkins, Jr.
, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and who served there until his death in 1990. There, Larkins tried several important cases, which greatly strengthened both civil rights and environmental protection legislation.
In 1973, it was listed in the National Register of Historic Places
as a contributing building within the nationally significant New Bern Historic District. In 1992, the post office vacated the building but retained ownership. In 2004, the U.S. General Services Administration
assumed ownership and initiated a renovation.
. This style is heavily influenced by colonial-era precedents and employs classical ornamentation. The building is three stories and sits atop a granite
base. It is clad in red brick
veneer that is laid in a common bond pattern. Contrasting limestone
trim accentuates the exterior.
A central colonnade
with six pairs of two-story limestone columns dominates the symmetrical facade
. The first level contains five arched entrance openings topped by decorative swag-and-garland motifs executed in limestone. The classically designed entrances have broken pediments surmounted by cast-bronze eagles. A limestone water table
encircles the building between the first and second levels. Projecting pavilion
s articulated by limestone quoin
s flank the colonnade. Arched windows with classical surrounds span the second and third floors. Classical pilaster
s support pediments. The same round-arch motif is repeated on two small copper-clad dormers. Double-hung, wood windows are found throughout the building. A parapet
with balustrades tops the facade above a dentilled cornice
. The steeply pitched roof is covered in slate
. A prominent wood cupola
with arched windows is capped with a copper roof.
The postal lobby spans the width of the building on the east side on the first floor. The east wall of the lobby contains fluted Royal black and white marble pilasters topped with plaster Ionic capitals. Alabama Creme and black marble tiles set on a diagonal cover the floor. The coved plaster ceiling features massive bronze octagonal light fixtures. The west wall of the lobby contains bays that formerly housed post-office boxes and service windows. The upper portions of the bays are filled with iron grilles with painted floral designs. Other remnants from the post office era include wall-mounted postal tables with black marble tops that extend from the eastern wall and are supported by scrolled brackets. Original directory boards are contained in classical frames topped by broken pediments and urn ornaments. Located at the each end of the lobby, steel-frame marble staircases have ornamental iron balusters and aluminum handrail
s with large scrolled brackets.
The most significant interior space is the ceremonial courtroom
located on the second floor. The walls are clad in mahogany panels punctuated by fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals. Behind the judge's bench is an arched opening surmounted by a broken pediment with a carved eagle. A dentilled cornice encircles the tops of the walls. The courtroom contains bronze chandeliers with eagle motifs that were meticulously designed by the building's architect Robert F. Smallwood.
The courtroom contains significant mural
s from the New Deal
era. In 1938, David J. Silvette of Richmond, Virginia
, painted three oil-on-canvas murals behind the judge's bench in the courtroom. The paintings were commissioned for a cost of $3,000 through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The murals illustrate significant events in New Bern's history and express the themes of justice, liberty, and freedom. The Bayard v. Singleton Case of 1787 established that the legislature's power is limited by the Constitution. The First Printing Press (1749) shows a representation of the earliest press in North Carolina and also illustrates Baron von Graffenried, the founder of New Bern, recruiting settlers to accompany him to the New World. Finally, First Provincial Convention in North Carolina (1774) depicts the first meeting of the local Congress in New Bern.
Courthouse
A courthouse is a building that is home to a local court of law and often the regional county government as well, although this is not the case in some larger cities. The term is common in North America. In most other English speaking countries, buildings which house courts of law are simply...
of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina
The United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina is the United States District Court that serves the eastern 44 counties in North Carolina. Appeals from the Eastern District of North Carolina are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit The...
, located in New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern, North Carolina
New Bern is a city in Craven County, North Carolina with a population of 29,524 as of the 2010 census.. It is located at the confluence of the Trent and the Neuse rivers...
. The building was completed in 1935, and was listed in 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 1973, as a contributing building within the New Bern Historic District.
Building history
As the town of New Bern became a bustling port and mercantile center, citizens required federal services. In 1897, the government constructed a Romanesque Revival building at the corner of Pollock and Craven streets to house a post office and courthouse. By the 1930s, New Bern needed a larger building. Deciding not to expand the 1897 building, the U.S. Department of the Treasury chose a site bounded by Middle, Broad, Hancock, and New streets. Controversy arose when business owners objected to the new location, and the Daughters of the American RevolutionDaughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
passed a resolution opposing the destruction of the John Wright Stanly House
John Wright Stanly House
The John Wright Stanly House is a historic home in New Bern, North Carolina, United States. John Wright Stanly was a prominent New Bern citizen. It was named to the National Register of Historic Places on February 26, 1970.-References:...
, an 18th-century Georgian building on the proposed lot. Officials proceeded with the project after the City of New Bern agreed to purchase the 1897 building for its city hall, and the Stanly House was relocated.
Construction of the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse began in 1933. Local architect Robert F. Smallwood
Robert F. Smallwood
Robert F. Smallwood is an American writer and technologist born in 1959 in Davenport, Iowa. He grew up in nearby Bettendorf, where he was an athletic, academic, and musical standout...
designed the building, which opened on April 1, 1935, and cost $325,000 to build. At the time of its completion, it was one of the largest and most expensive buildings in the Eastern Carolina region. For a brief time, the new building also served as a custom house
Custom House
A custom house or customs house was a building housing the offices for the government officials who processed the paperwork for the import and export of goods into and out of a country. Customs officials also collected customs duty on imported goods....
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the United States Marine Corps Command Contingent occupied the second and third floors.
For much of its existence, matters addressed in the court were brought before John Davis Larkins, Jr.
John Davis Larkins, Jr.
John Davis Larkins, Jr. was a United States federal judge.Larkins was born in Morristown, Tennessee. He received a B.A. from Wake Forest University in 1929 and read law in 1930. He was in private practice of law in Trenton, North Carolina from 1930 to 1961. He served in the United States Army in...
, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 and who served there until his death in 1990. There, Larkins tried several important cases, which greatly strengthened both civil rights and environmental protection legislation.
In 1973, it was listed in 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...
as a contributing building within the nationally significant New Bern Historic District. In 1992, the post office vacated the building but retained ownership. In 2004, the U.S. General Services Administration
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. The GSA supplies products and communications for U.S...
assumed ownership and initiated a renovation.
Architecture
The building is an example of the Georgian Revival style of architectureArchitecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
. This style is heavily influenced by colonial-era precedents and employs classical ornamentation. The building is three stories and sits atop a 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...
base. It is clad in red brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
veneer that is laid in a common bond pattern. Contrasting 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....
trim accentuates the exterior.
A central colonnade
Colonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
with six pairs of two-story limestone columns dominates the symmetrical 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"....
. The first level contains five arched entrance openings topped by decorative swag-and-garland motifs executed in limestone. The classically designed entrances have broken pediments surmounted by cast-bronze eagles. A limestone water table
Water table
The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...
encircles the building between the first and second levels. Projecting 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...
s articulated by limestone 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 flank the colonnade. Arched windows with classical surrounds span the second and third floors. Classical 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 support pediments. The same round-arch motif is repeated on two small copper-clad dormers. Double-hung, wood windows are found throughout the building. A 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...
with balustrades tops the facade above a dentilled 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...
. The steeply pitched roof is covered in slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
. A prominent wood cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
with arched windows is capped with a copper roof.
The postal lobby spans the width of the building on the east side on the first floor. The east wall of the lobby contains fluted Royal black and white marble pilasters topped with plaster Ionic capitals. Alabama Creme and black marble tiles set on a diagonal cover the floor. The coved plaster ceiling features massive bronze octagonal light fixtures. The west wall of the lobby contains bays that formerly housed post-office boxes and service windows. The upper portions of the bays are filled with iron grilles with painted floral designs. Other remnants from the post office era include wall-mounted postal tables with black marble tops that extend from the eastern wall and are supported by scrolled brackets. Original directory boards are contained in classical frames topped by broken pediments and urn ornaments. Located at the each end of the lobby, steel-frame marble staircases have ornamental iron balusters and aluminum handrail
Handrail
A handrail is a rail that is designed to be grasped by the hand so as to provide stability or support. Handrails are commonly used while ascending or descending stairways and escalators in order to prevent injurious falls. Other applications include bathroom handrails—which help to prevent falls on...
s with large scrolled brackets.
The most significant interior space is the ceremonial courtroom
Courtroom
A courtroom is the actual enclosed space in which a judge regularly holds court.The schedule of official court proceedings is called a docket; the term is also synonymous with a court's caseload as a whole.-Courtroom design:-United States:...
located on the second floor. The walls are clad in mahogany panels punctuated by fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals. Behind the judge's bench is an arched opening surmounted by a broken pediment with a carved eagle. A dentilled cornice encircles the tops of the walls. The courtroom contains bronze chandeliers with eagle motifs that were meticulously designed by the building's architect Robert F. Smallwood.
The courtroom contains significant 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 from the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
era. In 1938, David J. Silvette of Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, painted three oil-on-canvas murals behind the judge's bench in the courtroom. The paintings were commissioned for a cost of $3,000 through the Section of Painting and Sculpture, U.S. Department of the Treasury. The murals illustrate significant events in New Bern's history and express the themes of justice, liberty, and freedom. The Bayard v. Singleton Case of 1787 established that the legislature's power is limited by the Constitution. The First Printing Press (1749) shows a representation of the earliest press in North Carolina and also illustrates Baron von Graffenried, the founder of New Bern, recruiting settlers to accompany him to the New World. Finally, First Provincial Convention in North Carolina (1774) depicts the first meeting of the local Congress in New Bern.
Significant events
- 1710 New Bern founded
- 1765 New Bern established as colonial capital
- 1935 U.S. Post Office and Courthouse completed
- 1973 Listed in the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
as a contributing building within the New Bern Historic District - 1992 U.S. Post Office vacates building
- 2004 GSA assumes ownership of the building and initiates renovations
Building facts
- Location: 413 Middle Street
- Architect: Robert F. Smallwood
- Construction Dates: 1933-1935
- Architectural Style: Georgian Revival
- Landmark Status: Contributing building within the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic PlacesThe National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
New Bern Historic District - Primary Materials: Red brick veneer with limestone trim
- Prominent Features: Central colonnade with paired limestone columns; Cupola; Ceremonial courtroom with murals
Attribution
- Material on this page was initially produced by the U.S. General Services Administration, an agency of the United States government, and is reproduced with the express permission of that agency. All works derived from this material must credit the U.S. General Services Administration. The original text produced by the General Services Administration is available here.