After Wright’s work, my favorite building in Oak Park is our central Post Office. In some ways I appreciate it more because I can use it on a daily basis. This year, the U.S. Postal Service is celebrating its 80th anniversary by conducting interesting guided tours throughout the building lobby, the receiving and shipping processing center, meeting rooms, staff lockers, and a swing room.
Charles White was the architect of the structure, which was completed in 1935 in the then-popular Art Deco style. Prior to this commission, White worked for Wright in his Oak Park studio. The WPA building employed the most eloquent ideals of the style as stated in Wikipedia:
“During its heyday (1920-40), Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance and faith in social and technological progress.”
The carved limestone edifice is symmetrical in plan and detail. Its stylized, two-story classical columns are quietly monumental. The three entrances located at the corners are marked by negative space, serving as covered entries while the balance of bays are glazed. A geometric pattern of glass and bronze windows contain symbolic imagery that recalls the primary means of mail delivery via airplanes, trains, covered wagon, backpack and horseback.
As you enter through the square vestibules, you are compressed with a powerful frame of the one-story lobby, then released into the grand three-story main hall. Wright also employed this classic architectural device to create an authoritative entry sequence. The ceiling design contains round trim detail with custom light fixture which implies turning or movement in preparation for entering the main hall, which is colonnaded and capped by a subtle vaulted lay-light. The rhythmic colonnade is accentuated by metal and glass sconces that distribute the light evenly, albeit the foot-candles are not near as bright as one expects now. But it’s good that the original atmosphere is intact and not overpowered by aggressive LED lighting.
The floor is a terrazzo, executed in a geometric pattern, including a number of earth-tone colors. Polished marble slabs protect the first floor walls and look as good now as 80 years ago. The custom wood doors have a parquet pattern and a small vision light. The writing stands are custom-designed with metal frames in a Roman cross frame. Another reference to Master Wright, these handsome pieces of furniture extend the architectural language into the building contents.
Four WPA murals depicting the history of the area are framed and recessed into the wall adjacent to the lobbies. Commissioned in the ’30s, the paintings provide relief from the hard-edged geometry and materials of the interior.
Yeah, I love this building.
The structure was initially planned for and served not only Oak Park but also the surrounding communities. The Post Office is in the process of returning to that regional plan due to the drastic decrease of mail. It is good to know there is a plan in the works to keep the building viable and well used as an asset to the whole area.
The second floor is grossly underused. It contains two beautiful architectural stairways in steel and terrazzo, a long corridor accessing a series of offices and meeting rooms at the corner. The overlook to the main space is stunning, a generous hall via a corridor that provides an oh-so-elegant prelude to the GSA-quality ring of offices on the perimeter. Evidently they rent these spaces out — cheap. Dibs on the suite facing Unity Temple.
I thought it could almost be cool to work in this elegant workplace and I wouldn’t have to go far to post a letter. In the rear of the building is a large open swing room providing a place for lockers, lunchroom, some games and a place to rest.
The postal service has no official credo, but unofficially inscribed on the New York City Post Office (by Makin, Meade and White Architects) is the motto that many regard as the unofficial creed:
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
Garret Eakin, is a residential architect, a member of the Village Plan Commission, and an adjunct full professor at the School of the Art Institute.