United States Post Office–Medford Main
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The US Post Office–Medford Main is a historic post office at 20 Forest Street in
Medford, Massachusetts Medford is a city northwest of downtown Boston on the Mystic River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 59,659. It is home to Tufts University, which has its campus alo ...
. Built in 1937, it is a fine example of construction work funded 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 ...
, a jobs program of the 1930s. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1986.


Description and history

The main Medford Post Office is set on the west side of Forest Street, just north of the central business district's main intersection. The front portion of the building is a seven-bay brick structure, set on a high foundation. The central three bays project forward and upward, and are topped by a gabled roof with a modillioned marble pediment. The outer bays of the projection house tall windows, and the center one the entrance, which is reached via granite steps. The windows in the outer bays are set in recessed panels, with marble sills and lintels. The interior lobby space features terrazzo marble flooring, marble wainscoting, and dark woodwork. The service area, located to the right is topped by a mural depicting the city's historic shipbuilding and rum industries. The building's principal designing architect was Arthur Blakeslee, and it was built in 1937 with funding from 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 ...
(PWA), following that body's guidelines for design and construction. The building's location on a side street (as opposed to a more prominent corner or main street location) was an evolutionary step in the PWA's practices for post office location, allowing the mail handling area to be accessed from the side rather than the rear.


See also

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Medford, Massachusetts This is a list of places and properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Medford, Massachusetts. __TOC__ Current listings References {{DEFAULTSORT:National Register Of Historic P ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Massachusetts This is a listing of places in Middlesex County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts that are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. With more than 1,300 listings, the county has more listings than any other county in the United Stat ...
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List of United States post offices Several United States post offices are individually notable and have operated under the authority of the United States Post Office Department (1792–1971) or of the United States Postal Service (since 1971). Notable U.S. post offices include in ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Us Post Office-Medford Main Medford Buildings and structures in Middlesex County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Medford, Massachusetts