U.S. Post Office (Napa, California) on:
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The U.S. Post Office, also known as the Napa Franklin Station, served the 94559 zip code area of Napa, California. The post office was built in 1933 with funding from the 
The building was damaged by the
Public Works Administration
The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...
. Architect William H. Corlett
William Henry Corlett (1856 – October 7, 1937), also known as W. H. Corlett, and was an American architect and contractor, active in Napa County, California and the surrounding area. Several buildings and residences he designed are listed on th ...
designed the Art Deco building. The front facade of the building has three sections; the central section has six bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
s divided by piers with terra cotta capitals. A terra cotta cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
adorned with ram and cow heads tops the central section. The side sections, which contain the building's two entrances, feature panels with decorative eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
designs above the doorways and urn-shaped bronze light fixtures on either side. The post office's lobby features a painted bas-relief plastic ceiling, unusual in federally constructed post offices, and a terrazzo floor.
The post office was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985.
The building was damaged by the 2014 South Napa earthquake
The 2014 South Napa earthquake occurred in the North San Francisco Bay Area on August 24 at . At 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale and with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''), the event was the largest in the San Francisco Bay Are ...
.
Both this building and the main Napa Post Office at 1625 Trancas Street were heavily damaged and red-tagged (not able to be occupied) after the earthquake. The United States Postal Service determined that repairing this building would be too costly. They tried to tear it down to rebuild another Post Office, but after neighborhood outcry, sold it to a developer for $2M.
The developer plans to turn the building into a hotel.
See also
* List of United States post officesReferences
Napa Art Deco architecture in California Government buildings completed in 1933 National Register of Historic Places in Napa County, California Public Works Administration in California {{NapaCountyCA-NRHP-stub