Old Post Office (Augusta, Maine)


Old Post Office
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

The Old Post Office in 2013
Show map of Maine Show map of the United States
Location	295 Water St., Augusta, Maine
Coordinates	44°18′51.98″N 69°46′29.6″W / 44.3144389°N 69.774889°W / 44.3144389; -69.774889
Built	1886-1890
Architect	Mifflin Bell
Architectural style	Romanesque Revival
NRHP reference No.	74000172^[1]
Added to NRHP	July 18, 1974

The Old Post Office and Court House is a historic former federal government building at 295 Water Street in downtown Augusta, Maine. Built in 1886-1890, it is one of Maine's finest surviving examples of Romanesque Revival architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.^[1]

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/3
Views:
1 312
529
535

Transcription

Design and construction

The former Post Office and Court House stands on the east side of Water Street, Augusta's principal commercial downtown thoroughfare, at the southeast corner with Winthrop and Front Streets. It is a symmetrical 2-1/2 story granite structure with a central tower, flanked on either side by a wall and smaller tower. It was designed by Mifflin E. Bell (1846-1904), the Supervising Architect for the U.S. Treasury. Bell's term ended July 1887, and his successor William Alfred Freret finished the job, and the building opened in January 1890.^[2] The cost of construction was $178,281.20. It contained 427,600 cubic feet, was heated by steam, and contained a hydraulic freight elevator for post office use.^[3]

The building was enlarged sometime during the tenure of treasury architect James Knox Taylor (1897 to mid-1912).^[2]

History

The building was used as a courthouse and post office until the 1960s, when a new, larger federal building was constructed for these uses. The Old Post Office was sold as surplus property to a private owner. It was adaptively repurposed to house a bank, restaurant, and office, while largely preserving the exterior.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Maine Historic Preservation Commission (11 January 1974). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form" (PDF). NPS.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
^ History of Public Buildings under the control of the Treasury Department. Government Printing Office. 1901.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Olde Federal Building.

NRHP Nomination Form

v t e U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Topics	Architectural style categories Contributing property Historic district History of the National Register of Historic Places Keeper of the Register National Park Service Property types
Lists by state	List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
Lists by insular areas	American Samoa Guam Minor Outlying Islands Northern Mariana Islands Puerto Rico Virgin Islands
Lists by associated state	Federated States of Micronesia Marshall Islands Palau
Other areas	District of Columbia American Legation, Morocco
Related	National Historic Preservation Act Historic Preservation Fund List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places portal Category

This page was last edited on 5 July 2023, at 01:38

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia