The Ferry Station Post Office Building, also known as the Agriculture Building, is a historic building in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Building

The building is located on the Embarcadero in the SoMa District, at the foot of

Mission Street Mission Street is a north-south arterial thoroughfare in Daly City and San Francisco, California that runs from Daly City's southern border to San Francisco's northeast waterfront. The street and San Francisco's Mission District through which it ...

. Designed by A. A. Pyle of the California Board of State Harbor Commissioners, it is a two-story steel-framed building in

Mediterranean Revival Mediterranean Revival is an architectural style introduced in the United States, Canada, and certain other countries in the 19th century. It incorporated references from Spanish Renaissance, Spanish Colonial, Italian Renaissance, French Colonia ...

style reminiscent of a

palazzo A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

, of brick with ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' stone trim of

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

. It has a reinforced concrete foundation resting on a wharf built at the same time and supported on wood pilings. An arch over the double entrance doors has a phoenix and a flagpole in the center. The upper story is decorated with two terracotta shields and with patterned brick panels.

History

It was constructed in 1915 as the main post office for San Francisco, with mail arriving by water and then being distributed by

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...

. Construction cost $31,981.50; the contract was signed on October 22, 1914, and it was completed on May 6, 1915. It was enlarged at the rear in 1918. In 1925 it ceased to be a post office and was used for transportation company offices; in 1933 it was transferred to the state

Agriculture Department An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...

. It was

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

's San Francisco terminal, with buses connecting to trains at Oakland and Emeryville, until March 2015, when this moved to the Temporary TransBay Terminal pending completion of the

Transbay Transit Center The Transbay Transit Center (officially the Salesforce Transit Center for sponsorship purposes) is a transit station in downtown San Francisco. It serves as the primary bus terminal — and potentially as a future rail terminal — for the San ...

. The Ferry Station Post Office Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1978.

References

External links

Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in San Francisco Mediterranean Revival architecture in California Government buildings completed in 1915 Former Amtrak stations in California 1915 establishments in California Former bus stations Bus stations in San Francisco Former post office buildings {{SanFrancisco-struct-stub