ADDRESS: 215 South Evans St., Greenville, North Carolina
Another beautiful former Post Office / Federal Building. Thanks Doug.
The former United States Post Office in downtown Greenville (now the Federal Building), located adjacent to the Pitt County Courthouse and early twentieth century commercial buildings, is a reflection of the city’s booming economy during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The completion to Greenville of the Scotland Neck and Kinston Railroad in 1889 and the subsequent development of the tobacco market fostered Greenville’s prosperity during this period and the concomitant construction of impressive governmental and commercial structures in the central business district.
The post office is a handsome example of the Florentine Renaissance Revival style. Greenville’s post office is far more flamboyant than those contemporary post offices in neighboring towns. Most of the early twentieth century post offices in adjoining counties were built of stone in a restrained Neo-classical Revival style so popular for public building during that period. Buildings In the Florentine Renaissance Revival style are rare in eastern North Carolina.
The Morehead City Municipal Building, constructed in 1926, is the only other building of this type represented in Historic and Architectural Resources of the Tar-Neuse River Basin. Although different architects designed the U.S. Post Office in Greenville and the Morehead Cit Municipal Building, the two structures have striking similarities. Both are two-story stucco-over-brick buildings covered with low hip roofs with overhanging eaves.
The main section of the former United States Post Office was constructed in 1913-1914 and occupied in January, 1915. It stands two stories high and rests on a limestone base. The five-bay front elevation and five-bay side elevations are framed by limestone corners. The low hip roof of terra cotta tile has overhanging eaves with alternating plain coffered panels and panel-and-drop decorations in the soffit.
A flat frieze, surmounted by a handsome egg-anddart and dentil cornice, is located below the eaves. Exterior walls are constructed of stucco-over-brick and have extensive limestone dressings, including window and door surrounds, corners, and cornices. The front (Evans Street) elevation boasts a three-bay loggia formed by arches with voluted keystones, springing from Tuscan columns.
A decorative Gothic lantern hangs in this recess. On the facade, engaged pilasters and arches echo the arcade. They frame arched windows at the upper level and a central entrance and large flanking windows. The entrance has sidelights, a transom, slim pilasters, and a pediment. A second entrance door gives access to the lobby from East Third Street. This handsome entrance consists of a three-part surround; large square Doric pilasters; and an entablature upon which rests a small balustrade.
The fenestration of the elevations is distinctive and highly Italianate. There is pronounced diminution from first to second levels–six-over-six at the first level, double three-light casements above. The first level windows have entablatures and rest on consoles; the upper ones have plain frames and lower blocks, and they abut the frieze. The interior of this structure reflects many changes, although the lobby retains its terrazzo floor with marble wainscoting.
Originally, patrons entering the lobby from Evans Street faced the east wall, which contained the post office boxes. The general postal business window and the door to the postmaster’s office were located on the same wall, to the right of the boxes. A window for money orders, registered mail, and postal savings certificates was located on the north end of the lobby.
The staircase to the second floor remains on the south lobby wall. Behind the wall of post office boxes was the work area, which had a high ceiling that extended the full two stories of the building. A narrow enclosed observation gallery, entered by a ladder, flanked the upper part of the work area at its middle point.
The observation gallery was used to monitor the work of employees and only the postmaster and postal inspector were authorized to use it. It was removed when the building was remodeled for federal offices. In 1936-37 a one-story addition to the rear of the post office expanded the work area and provided a new mailing platform. The new section was mainly used for parcel post and by the Rural Free Delivery carriers. The addition has stucco-over-brick exterior walls and is compatible in style with the earlier section. At the same time, changes were made to the floorplan of the original building. The postmaster’s office was moved and the old one opened for public use, thus creating an “L” shaped lobby. The general postal business window was moved from the front lobby to the new side lobby. This allowed space for new post office boxes in the older front lobby. This building served as the main post office for Greenville until 1969, when the present post office was finished. The old building was then remodeled for use by offices of the United States government. Although the exterior remains as it was built in 1913-14, the interior has been partitioned.
Greenville’s former United States Post Office, now the Federal Building, is an impressive, well preserved example of Florentine Renaissance Revival architecture– a rare style in eastern North Carolina. Built in 1913-1914 from plans by Oscar Wenderoth, supervising architect, of the United States Treasury Department, the building is a reflection of the city’s prosperity and vigorous growth during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The post office, which is adjacent to the Pitt County Courthouse and a few early twentieth century commercial buildings, stands as an important reminder of the past in a city that has undergone extensive urban renewal.
Sources
- Personal visit by Doug
- National Register of Historic Places PT0064, accessed 05/17/2020 by David W. Gates Jr.
- General Services Administration Accessed 05/07/2020 By David W. Gates Jr.
