United States Postal Service Postal Historic …...United States Postal Service Postal Historic...

United States Postal Service Postal Historic Structure Report

Developmental History

for

Berkeley Main Post Office

Final

January 29, 2013

Prepared for:

United States Postal Service Real Estate and Assets Facilities Headquarters 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Room 6670 Washington, DC 20260-1862

Prepared by:

Tetra Tech, Inc. 1999 Harrison Street, Suite 500 Oakland, California 94612

January 2013 Postal Historic Structure Report for Berkeley Main Post Office i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1

1.1 STUDY SUMMARY ..................................................................................................1

1.2 PROJECT DATA......................................................................................................2

2 RECORD SEARCH.........................................................................................................4

2.1 AREA OF POTENTIAL EFFECT (APE) .......................................................................4

2.2 NRHP ELIGIBLE OR LISTED PROPERTIES WITHIN APE .............................................4

3 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY ........................................................................................8

3.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT...............................................................8

3.2 BRIEF CONTEXT THE CITY OF BERKELEY...............................................................10

3.3 DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS ..................................................................................11

4 CHRONOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND USE ..........................................................12

4.1 USE ....................................................................................................................12

4.2 ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION....................................................................................12

4.3 ALTERATIONS......................................................................................................23

5 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION ...........................................................................................25

5.1 SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT ......................................................................................25

5.2 ALTERATIONS......................................................................................................26

5.3 PROMINENT ELEMENTS AND MATERIALS ...............................................................26

6 EVALUATION OF SIGNIFICANCE................................................................................28

6.1 NRHP LISTING FOR BERKELEY MAIN POST OFFICE ...............................................29

6.2 PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE ....................................................................................30

6.3 SIGNIFICANT/HISTORIC CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURES......................................30

6.4 INTEGRITY...........................................................................................................32

7 CONDITION ASSESSMENT .........................................................................................33

7.1 EXTERIOR ...........................................................................................................33

7.2 INTERIOR ............................................................................................................33

8 QUALIFICATIONS.........................................................................................................34

9 REFERENCES..............................................................................................................35

January 2013 Postal Historic Structure Report for Berkeley Main Post Office ii

FIGURES Figure 1 Project Location...................................................................................................3

Figure 2 APE Map .............................................................................................................6

TABLE

Table 1. NRHP and CRHR Eligible Architectural Properties within APE...................................7

APPENDIX

A NRHP Nomination Forms

B DPR 523 Forms

C Native American Heritage Consultation Request

D List of Interested Parties

January 2013 Postal Historic Structure Report for Berkeley Main Post Office 1

1 INTRODUCTION Tetra Tech Inc. (Tetra Tech) Inc. was tasked by the United States Postal Service (USPS) and Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis (CBRE) to conduct historic research and site documentation of the Berkeley (California) Main Post Office located at 2000 Allston Way (Figure 1). The scope of the study included:

Conducting a cultural resource record search and sacred site search;

Conducting a site visit and documenting historic features;

Completing Part 1 of the Historic Structures Report as outlined in National Register Brief 43: The Preparation and Use of Historic Structure Reports;

Documenting the USPS delineation of the Area of Potential Effect (APE) for future undertakings;

Preparing the Department of Parks and Recreation Form (DPR) Form 523A for the post office property; and

Developing a proposed List of Interested Parties.

Copies of forms and correspondence are provided as Appendices A through D to this report.

1.1 STUDY SUMMARY

This report was prepared to obtain background information on the Berkeley Main Post Office to establish baseline knowledge of the historic character and defining features of the property and the general conditions of the building. The USPS also wished to gain information on the historical significance of the post office and the determination for listing in the NRHP.

Tetra Tech conducted a site visit to the post office, photographed and recorded the building on California DPR Form 523A, and conducted research regarding the origins of the building. The Berkeley Main Post Office was listed on the NRHP in 1981 under Criteria A and C, and assigned the status 1D, “contributor to a district or multiple resource property.” The building is also listed on the California Register of Historic Resources, was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark in 1980, and is a contributor to Berkeley’s Civic Center Historic District. There are nine contributing buildings to this historic district, including the post office.

Tetra Tech determined the property retains a high degree of historic integrity, its materials are well preserved, and that it is in excellent condition on both the interior and the exterior. A mural that surrounds the doorway of the original post master’s office and the relief panel on the exterior east wall of the building has also been well preserved and are in excellent condition.

1. Introduction


1.2 PROJECT DATA

The USPS is the owner of the Berkeley Main Post Office building at 2000 Allston Way and the land where it is located. The post office was listed on the NRHP in 1981. In addition to the observations and field documentation conducted in October 2012, Tetra Tech used the NRHP nomination form as the primary source of information for the developmental history portions of this report. 1 Tetra Tech also identified the building’s historic character defining features, and assessed the condition of the building’s elements and materials. Tetra Tech staff contributing to the project included Julia Mates, Historian/Architectural Historian, and Kara Brunzell, Historian. Both Ms. Mates and Ms. Brunzell meet the History and Architectural History professional qualifications as outlined by the federal government in Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61.

1 National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office, Date Entered January 29, 1981.

1. Introduction


Figure 1 Project Location


2 RECORD SEARCH 2.1 AREA OF POTENTIAL EFFECT (APE)

The USPS has defined the APE for potential undertaking to be the Berkeley Main Post Office. The direct APE is defined as the Berkeley Main Post Office building itself. The indirect APE is defined as portions of the area bounded by Center Street and Bancroft Way and within the area bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way and Shattuck Avenue, as shown in Figure 2. The indirect APE was delineated as such because buildings and structures located on parcels where undertakings may include lease, sale, alteration, or demolition of the Berkeley Main Post Office could directly or indirectly effect historic properties located on those parcels, such as neighboring buildings and structures that are contributors to the Civic Center Historic District. There are nine contributing buildings to this historic district, including the post office. The District’s significant historic themes are politics and government, social history, architecture, and community planning. Contributing buildings to Civic Center Historic District provide public service and the creation of a cohesive ensemble, with each building constructed to create a clearly defined civic center.2

2.2 NRHP ELIGIBLE OR LISTED PROPERTIES WITHIN APE

Tetra Tech conducted a records search at the Northwest Information Center (NWIC) at California State University, Sonoma (NWIC No. 12-0405). The search included archaeological as well as architectural historic sites within a quarter-mile radius of the Berkeley Main Post Office so that the USPS could consider effects to any historic properties that are present within this boundary.

The Berkeley Main Post Office was listed on the NRHP in 1981 under Criteria A and C; it is listed for areas of significance in architecture, art, communications, and politics and government. The property was given the status 1D, “contributor to a district or multiple resource property” (the Civic Center Historic District). The building is also listed on the California Register of Historic Resources and was designated a City of Berkeley Landmark in the 1980 list.3 Five other cultural resources are recorded within a quarter-mile radius of the post office. Two are historic architectural resources and two are archaeological resources. One location contains both an archaeological site and an NRHP-listed historic building. There are no known archaeological sites at the location of the post office or within the APE.

The two other NRHP listed historic properties that are within the APE are the Federal Land Bank and the YMCA. The Federal Bank was constructed in 1938 and is located at 2180 Milvia Street. The YMCA was constructed in 1910 and is located at 2001 Allston Way. These properties are individually listed on the NRHP as contributors to the Civic Center Historic District (see Table 1).

2 National Register of Historic Places—Nomination Form, Berkeley Historic Civic Center District, Date Entered, July 29, 1998. 3 National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office, Date

Entered January 29, 1981.

2. Significance Evaluation

January 2013 Postical Historic Structure Report for Berkeley Main Post Office 5

The USPS has requested a record search of the sacred lands file conducted by letter to the California Native American Heritage Commission to indicate the presence of Native American cultural resources in the vicinity of the post office.



Figure 2 APE Map



TABLE 1. NRHP AND CRHR ELIGIBLE ARCHITECTURAL PROPERTIES WITHIN APE

Name / Historic Resources

Inventory Number Address / Date of Construction

National Register/California Register Status Code

Distance from Berkeley Main

Post Office

2180 Milvia Street 1938

ID: Contributor to a district or multiple resource property listed in NR by the Keeper. Listed in the CR.

0.06 mile

2001 Allston Way 1910

1D: Contributor to a district or multiple resource property listed in NR by the Keeper. Listed in the CR.

0.02 mile

2000 Allston Way 1914

1D: Contributor to a district or multiple resource property listed in NR by the Keeper. Listed in the CR.

Subject


3 DEVELOPMENTAL HISTORY 3.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The Berkeley Main Post Office on Allston Way was constructed in 1914; its construction a product of the U.S. Treasury Department Supervising Architect’s Office. Authorization for construction of the post office was given in 1910, and construction was completed in 1914 (Photographs 1 and 2). Before the Berkeley Main Post Office was built, post offices were located in various stores and rented buildings. By the fiscal year of 1913-1914, the post office was generating $150,000 in revenue, the amount needed to qualify for a federally constructed post office. Although the Supervising Architect’s offices was backlogged with projects that were authorized but not yet constructed, Berkeley was given the highest appropriation of funding ($180,000) to purchase the land and construct the post office, largely because the City of Berkeley housed a great state university, was rapidly increasing in population, and yielded high postal receipts.4

Photograph 1: Plaque on Berkeley’s Main Post Office

Photograph 2: “New Post Office,” postcard (1914)

Sarah Wikander collection5

4 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 5 Photo taken from United States Post Office, Berkeley Historical Plaque Project, Website:

http://www.berkeleyplaques.org/index.php?page=united-states-post-office, accessed November 23, 2012.

3. Developmental History


Plans for the building were completed in 1913, and in April 1914, the building contract was awarded to general contractor Van Sant-Houghton Company of San Francisco and Berkeley. Original plans called for stucco and reinforced concrete; however, the postmaster and city leaders petitioned the federal government to substitute surface brick on the exterior, as the people of Berkeley wanted a “first class building” and, at the time, reinforced concrete and stucco did not signify civic grandeur.6

It was common for government buildings constructed during this period to house multiple government agencies. The Berkeley Main Post Office also housed the Forestry and Game commissioners, Internal Revenue Service personnel, and a civil service examination room. Within the first 15 years after construction, the post office was doing $500,000 worth of business and required more floor space. In 1930, an addition was constructed at the rear of the building that doubled the floor space.

In 1937, a mural was added to the lobby of the Post Office, surrounding the postmaster’s office door. This mural was painted by Suzanne Scheuer for the Treasury Relief Art Project.7 A relief panel by David Slivka representing the New Deal theme of the American worker and democracy was added to the exterior east wall of the building in 1937.

Funds were appropriated for construction of the post office in 1910, when James Knox Taylor was the Supervising Architect under the U.S. Federal Treasury Department. Taylor wanted government buildings to return to the “classic style of architecture” and be constructed of “high quality materials,” as they must be “built to last.”8 In 1912, Taylor resigned and was replaced with Supervising Architect Oscar Wenderoth, who continued Taylor’s use of classical-Renaissance post office designs, which is evident in the Berkeley Main Post Office with its arcaded loggias, ornamentation of dentils, swags, medallions, heraldic shields, diagonal rope and wave patterns, symmetry at the main façade, and use of fine materials such as marble, limestone, terra cotta, woodwork, and metalwork, as seen in Photograph 3.

6 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 7 The National Archives describes the Treasury Relief Art Project (TRAP) as the following: [It was] created on July 21, 1935, by a

grant of relief funds to the Treasury Department from the Works Progress Administration. The rules of employment, therefore, were governed by the Emergency Relief Appropriations Act of 1935, a fixed proportion of artists had to be hired from public relief rolls. However those hired were also expected to be qualified artists. Employing over 350 artists at its peak in mid-1936, TRAP completed 89 mural and 65 sculpture projects as well as 10,000 easel paintings for distribution to Federal Offices before it ended on June 30, 1939. TRAP was one of several discrete but closely related programs administered by the Treasury Department of promote artwork. The relationship between TRAP, the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) and the Section of Painting and Sculpture (PS) is outlined in the finding aid for 121-TR created by NARA's Still Picture Branch. (Until 1939 the construction and maintenance of all federal buildings was a responsibility of the Treasury Department), National Archives Online website: http://research.archives.gov/description/532328, accessed November 24, 2012.

8 United States Postal Service, Office of Real Estate, History of Post Office Construction, 1900-1940, United States Postal Service, Washington, D.C., 1982, p.6



Photograph 3: Berkeley Main Post Office

camera facing south, photo take October 30, 2012

Construction of post offices in the period of 1913 and 1914, the period when the Berkeley Main Post Office was constructed, was overseen by the Public Buildings Commission, Chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, William McAdoo. McAdoo is known for his support for a “practical standardization of buildings” to diminish the cost of constructing government buildings.9 However, most of the standardization guidelines that McAdoo and the Public Buildings Commission established for post offices were put into place a few years after the Berkeley Main Post Office was constructed. The standardizations that were eventually implemented reflected the design plans for how post offices were already being constructed and, therefore, many aspects of the design and layout of the Berkeley Main Post Office are found in post offices constructed from the 1910s into the 1930s. These designs include the arrangement of the public lobby, service counter, post office boxes in the walls of the lobby, workroom (where postal service workers would sort mail), large vaults, bulletin and civil service information boards in the lobby, and loading bays. The Berkeley Main Post Office also contains a prominent door to the Postmaster’s Office in the lobby, a common feature in post office construction, and large offices for the postmaster, assistant postmaster, and other administrative employees.

3.2 BRIEF CONTEXT THE CITY OF BERKELEY

As described in the NRHP nomination form for the Berkeley Main Post Office, the town of Berkeley was experiencing rapid growth after the San Francisco Earthquake.

9 History of Post Office Construction, p. 8.



In 1907, Clarence Merrill became postmaster and began campaigning for a federal post office to be constructed in Berkeley. Once funds were appropriated and construction began, the post office symbolized the “coming of age” for the City of Berkeley, “coinciding with a period of great economic and population growth and increasing political sophistication...”10 While the federal government saw the construction of government buildings as places that “would educate and develop the public taste and eventually elevate it to a higher plane,” the City of Berkeley also supported the notion of ideals, rationalization, and reform within the city.11 The Post Office has been an important and well-used civic building, located among a group of civic buildings in downtown Berkeley.

3.3 DESIGNERS AND BUILDERS

The Berkeley Main Post Office was designed by Supervising Architect Oscar Wenderoth under William McAdoo, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. Wenderoth became Supervising Architect after James Knox Taylor resigned. Wenderoth was Supervising Architect under the U.S. Treasury for 2 years, 1912 through 1914, and constructed several post offices and court houses in his career, including those in Oklahoma, New York, and Washington. The Van Sant-Houghton Company was awarded the contract to build the Berkeley Main Post Office. A well-known firm of San Francisco and Berkeley, the Van Sant-Houghton Company constructed residences in Berkeley and the 1915 Exposition in San Francisco.12

10 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 11 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 12 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office.


4 CHRONOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT AND USE 4.1 USE

The Berkeley Main Post Office was constructed to serve as a post office and continues to be used in that capacity.. The building housed other government agencies in its offices, such as the Forestry and Game commissioners, Internal Revenue Service personnel, and a civil service examination room.13

4.2 ORIGINAL CONSTRUCTION

The Berkeley Main Post Office is located in an urban setting, Berkeley’s main business district, and center of local government. The densely developed area is characterized by multiple story buildings that share side walls and are built out to the sidewalks. The post office, with facades on Allston Way and Kittredge and Milvia Streets, is one of several landmark buildings in the immediate area. Berkeley High School, the Civic Center, and the YMCA buildings occupy the parcels near the post office. The post office site, which is 1.11 acres, is slightly more than half its block.

The architectural style expressed by the Berkeley Main Post Office on Allston Way is Second Renaissance Revival. The style drew inspiration from northern Italian urban palaces and rural villas of the 16th and 17th centuries.14 An academic style of architecture that was compatible with the related Beaux-Arts Classicism, Second Renaissance Revival architecture was popular from 1890 to 1920. “Second” refers not to a second Renaissance, but is intended to distinguish the style from an earlier American revival of Renaissance architecture that ended about 1890.15 Designed by the Federal Treasury Department’s Office of the Supervising Architect, no single architect has been identified for the building. Though Oscar Wenderoth’s name is on the cornerstone, the building was authorized and probably partially designed under previous Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor and opened during the tenure of Wenderoth’s successor, James Wetmore.16

Constructed of reinforced concrete, the rectangular plan building was completed in 1914. The arcade of round arches across its main façade, wide overhanging Spanish clay tile roof, and classical details are typical of the Second Renaissance Revival post offices that were built throughout the United States during the 1910s.17 Primary fenestration consists of double hung windows grouped in three vertical divisions and topped with arched transoms. The large windows provide daylight to the lobby, post office box, and workroom areas.

13 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 14 Gerald Foster, American Houses: A Field Guide to the Architecture of the Home, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York: 2004,

p. 298. 15 U.S. Postal Service, Western Regional Office, National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, Significant

U.S. Post Offices in California, 1900-1941, Thematic Resources, November 1984, p. 21. 16 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office. 17 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office.

4. Chronology of Development and Use


The main façade of the Berkeley Main Post Office faces Allston Way and features a concentration of the building’s Second Renaissance Revival stylistic elements. The roof is hipped and covered in red clay tile. Its wide overhang features a double row of curved brackets framing wooden panels. A narrow frieze featuring decorative classical motifs crowns the second story just below the eaves. A row of 11 rectangular windows runs across the second story between the frieze, and there is a beltcourse adorned with classical motifs like those on the cornice frieze. The dominant architectural feature of this elevation is the arcade of round arches, which stretches the length of the ground floor in front of a loggia (Photograph 4, through 7). The arches are supported by plain Tuscan columns and outlined in terra cotta. Wide sections at the building’s corners are anchored by heavily rusticated cast stone simulating ashlar masonry, with the corner itself rounded and set back between rusticated sections.18

Photograph 4: Berkeley Main Post Office façade

(note rounded arches, fenestration, columns, entrance doors)

Photograph 5: Berkeley Main Post Office façade

(note beltcourse, eave overhang, and heraldic shields)

18 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office.



Photograph 6: Loggia

Photograph 7: west corner of main façade

(note heavily rusticated cast stone simulating ashlar masonry)

The inner wall of the loggia echoes the arch pattern of the arcade, with wide arches at both end walls and a cross-vaulted ceiling. Loggia arches are separated by plain Tuscan



pilasters. The fourth, sixth, and eighth arches feature paired glazed doors with brass fittings. The doors are separated and flanked by modified Corinthian pilasters (which are also repeated inside the lobby). The arches are glazed above the doors with operable center transoms. The other arches are fully glazed, with transoms that mirror those above the doors. Below each transom, a wide, double hung, wood sash window is grouped between two narrow ones. Heavy concrete windowsills are adorned with a wave motif (Photograph 8). A relief sculpture of postal workers on the east loggia end wall was created by San Francisco artist David Slivka in 1937 (Photograph 9). Granite steps lead from the sidewalk to the five arches at the center of the loggia, and its floor and baseboards are gray marble. The building contains a partially raised basement.19

Photograph 8: Wave motif and rectangular panel

Photograph 9: Relief sculpture by David Slivka, 1937

The Second Renaissance Revival details of the main façade (except for the arcade and loggia) are echoed on the Milvia Street (west) elevation. The wide roof overhang with




its double row of curved brackets framing wooden panels, as well as the frieze, beltcourse, arched windows, and rusticated corners, all mirror those of the main façade. A one-story, flat-roofed section of the building is connected to the rear of the Allston Way wing. Materials, window patterns, and decorative details match the lower portion of the building’s front section. The terra cotta beltcourse that runs around the building becomes a cornice frieze on the one-story rear section. Rectangular windows at the basement level of the entire west elevation are covered with metal security bars. The northernmost 35 feet of the one story section is original, while the seamless addition on the Kittredge Street (south) end of the building was added between 1931 and 1932 (Photograph 10).20

Photograph 10: Building Addition, camera facing southeast

With the exception of a few details the east elevation, which faces the parking lot, is a mirror image of the west elevation. A small, rectangular, decorative “window” is set into the rusticated corner at the rear of this elevation’s two story section. The grade is higher on this side of the building, so it has no basement windows. The one-story addition is set back several feet on this side to create space for the loading dock. Though the concrete loading dock and its canopies are installed in front of this section of the building, it has the same arched windows and frieze details found on the other elevations (Photographs 11 and 12).




Photograph 11: East elevation

Photograph 12: East elevation, loading dock

The rear of the building, which faces Kittredge Street, is one story. The pattern of large arched windows and cornice frieze continues here. At the basement level, window-sized rectangular vents are covered with bars on the east side of the elevation. As the grade lowers toward the west, the windows become double metal entrance doors.



The Berkeley Main Post Office reflects the 1901 decision by Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor to adopt a uniform “classic style of architecture” to replace the earlier diversity of styles.21 The mission of the Supervising Architect was to create conspicuously high quality and enduring federal buildings throughout the nation that would “educate and develop the public taste and eventually elevate it to a higher plane.”22

The interior of the post office embodies not only the Second Renaissance Revival style, but also the federal goals discussed above, as strongly as the building’s exterior. The lobby’s ceiling is coffered, and the pattern established by the arcade and loggia is mirrored yet again by arched service windows along its back wall. The tripartite divisions of the windows have been replicated, though their width has been altered slightly to accommodate standard-sized postal service windows to the left and right of a bulletin board centered in each arch.23 Service window arches are separated by pilasters topped with Corinthian capitals. An arched service window at the east end of the long, narrow lobby faces the Postmaster’s door at the west end. The ornate wooden Postmaster’s door with its Classical Revival detailing is set in yet another arch that completes the symmetry of the space. The blind arch that frames the Postmaster’s door features a mural, painted by Suzanne Scheuer in 1936 and 1937, which summarizes Berkeley’s history. Other decorative details include marble baseboards and wainscoting and mosaic tile floors (Photographs 13 to 17).24

Non-public spaces such as the workroom, basement level, and second floor do not reflect the Second Renaissance Revival style and are generally utilitarian spaces (Photographs 18 to 23).

Photograph 13: Mural over postmaster’s office door (now an elevator door)

Painted by Suzanne Scheuer in 1936 and 1937

21 NRHP– Nomination Form, Berkeley Main Post Office. 22 NRHP– Nomination Form, Berkeley Main Post Office. 23 NRHP– Nomination Form, Berkeley Main Post Office. 24 NRHP– Nomination Form, Berkeley Main Post Office.



Photograph 14: Interior lobby

Photograph 15: Individual service windows and original bulletin case



Photograph 16: Wood and glass vestibule

Photograph 17: Detail of original windows;

(note marble wainscot and pilasters topped with Corinthian capitals)



Photograph 18: Workroom and post office boxes

Photograph 19: Workroom and sorting space

Photograph 20: Interior of addition (annex) area



Photograph 21: Second floor hallway

(note original tile mosaic floor)

Photograph 22: Marble staircase to second floor

Photograph 23: Original post office boxes



4.3 ALTERATIONS

The Berkeley Post Office has been very well maintained and remained remarkably unaltered. Including the historic period rear addition in 1932 changes have been executed with great care. The alterations to the main façade — hand rails and disabled accessible ramps — have been added without significantly altering the original entryway. The loading dock and a parking area were added on the east side of the building, its least visible façade. The mural was added to the lobby in 1936 and completed in 1937 and depicts an allegory of the life in Berkeley in the Mission, rancho, and early American eras. A limestone bas-relief sculpture by artist David Slivka was added in 1937 that commemorated the contributions of postal workers.

The interior has seen more changes, but they have also been made with sensitivity to the historic character of the building. Some of the bulletin boards and bank teller-style grilles in the service windows have been removed to provide modern open counter service; however, all the wood trim surrounding these spaces was retained, and some individual service windows were preserved in their complete original form (Photograph 24). The original mosaic flooring in the lobby appears to have been covered with gray vinyl. Dropped acoustic ceilings and fluorescent lighting have been installed in hallways, and mid-century style globe light fixtures have replaced original vestibule hanging lanterns.

Photograph 24: Some counter windows have been altered to open bays

Originally, all three main entrances had wood and glass enclosed vestibules to protect employees at the service windows from draft. Two of these vestibules have been removed; however, the center vestibule remains. The original Postmaster’s office door is now an elevator shaft, and the elevator doors replace the original office door. Some of individual service counter windows have been replaced by large bays with metal roll-up shutters or mail slots. Non-public spaces, such as the workroom, have replacement wood flooring in places, a few offices on the second floor have replacement interior office doors, and there have been slight changes to the basement



offices and storage space, such as installation of fluorescent lighting. The second-floor windows have been replaced with metal sliding sashes, as shown in Photograph 25. When originally constructed, the building was gray, but in 1979 the building was painted to accent the Renaissance detailing.25

Photograph 25: Second story of replacement sliding sashes

25 Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Newsletter, United States Post Office Building, Proud Cornerstone of Berkeley’s Civic

Center, No. 40, Summer 2012.


5 PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The design and style of the post office exterior contains classical details of the Second Renaissance Revival, an architectural style used for post office construction in the U.S. during the 1910s in places such as Pasadena and San Bernardino, California, Akron, Ohio, and Pottsville, Pennsylvania.26 The interior space of the Berkeley Main Post Office is typical of what would become the “standardization” of post offices constructed in the years after its construction. The materials, elements, and style used also reflected the Supervising Architect’s belief that government buildings should be made of high-quality materials and construction so that they are built to last. The alterations that have taken place to the interior spaces over time also reflect common alterations that were made to older post offices in the U.S. in later decades.

5.1 SPATIAL ARRANGEMENT

The Berkeley Main Post Office features a public space that consists of a lobby with a service counter, tall tables and counters, and original post office boxes. A marble staircase leads to the second floor, and there is a long corridor with offices on the main floor. The second floor has a number of large offices and the basement is large. The workroom, similar to many post offices, is located behind the public counter. There is a small loading dock at the rear of the building (Photograph 26).

Photograph 26: Loading dock

26 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office

5. Physical Description


5.2 ALTERATIONS

There have been few alterations to the interior space of the post office, including a 1,962 foot long flat-roofed addition along Milvia Street that was added in 1931 through 1932. Other interior alterations include the addition of a sculpture and mural and added to the lobby in 1936 and 1937. An elevator has been added as well as a wood and glass enclosed vestibule at the center entrance of the lobby. A few individual service counter windows have been replaced by bays with metal roll-up shutters. The original flooring of the lobby has been replaced with vinyl tile over the original mosaic. Non-public spaces, such as the workroom, have replacement flooring, some offices on the second floor have replacement interior office doors, and there have been slight changes to the basement offices and storage space, such as installation of fluorescent lighting. Most of the interior alterations have either been made during the historic period, such as the addition of the annex at the rear of the building, or are minor alterations that do not take away from the overall historic integrity and character of the building, such as removal of some individual clerk windows.

The exterior of this post office remains mostly unaltered, with the exception a concrete ramp at the northeast side of the building, the second floor windows have been replaced with metal sliding sashes, and metal grilles have been added over two of the basement windows. The additional construction of additional space in the 1930s has been carefully designed to be sympathetic to the original construction, including the same wall siding, cornice, and window motifs as the original façade.

5.3 PROMINENT ELEMENTS AND MATERIALS

The interior of the post office contains several stylistic and ornamental features. Prominent interior architectural include: the spatial organization of the public lobby area, the arcade (reflecting the arcade at the exterior) in the screen line wall between the lobby and workroom, glazed arches with panes and transoms (again, as reflected on the exterior), service windows, wood frame bulletin boards, original post office boxes, a marble wainscot and baseboard, and walls and coffered ceiling. The capitals in the lobby are all Corinthian cast between the doors and windows and service bays, and carved wood columns on the entrance vestibule and Postmaster’s doorway. The glazed wood vestibule and a dentilled pediment above the original Postmaster’s office where “Postmaster” is carved (Photograph 27), are prominent elements of the lobby. The mural painted in 1936 and 1937 is also a prominent element, as are the service windows, most of which retain the original finely detailed wood framing, windows with brass grills and feather-chip glass, and curved ledges at the counter. The marble staircase that leads to the second floor is also a prominent element, as it contains oak handrails and ornamental metal end pieces and railings.

5. Physical Description


Photograph 27: Dentilled pediment over original postmaster’s office door

Prominent exterior elements and materials include the hipped red tile roof with a wide eave overhang, limestone, terra cotta trim, plan Tuscan columns, 11 vaulted round arches with terra cotta trim, the loggia that runs the full length of the building’s facade, and the wide terra cotta belt course with dentils, swags, medallions, and wave patterns. The scale, massing, and arches are the most prominent elements when viewed from the street, however closer inspection reveals several prominent elements such as a smaller terra cotta frieze with other classical motifs that top the second story just above the eaves, are also prominent elements at the building’s exterior. Cast blocks at the main façade and high walls, topped with terra cotta shields are prominent elements as are the rows of curved wooden brackets that frame the rectangular panels, forming a cornice soffit.27



6 EVALUATION OF SIGNIFICANCE The criteria for identifying historical resources under the National Register of Historic Places are in Section 106 of the National Preservation Act. The NRHP criteria are codified in 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Part 60. Guidance for evaluating historical significance is provided and explained in guidelines published by the Keeper of the National Register.28 National Register Bulletin13: How to Apply the National Register Criteria to Post Offices provides guidance on how to apply the National Register criteria to evaluate postal office buildings and provides significant themes under which post office buildings may be associated and characteristics that reflect those themes.

Historic significance is judged by applying NRHP Criteria A through D. The NRHP guidelines state that a historic resource’s “quality of significance in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering and culture” is determined by meeting at least one of the following (properties may be significant at the local, state, or national level):

Criterion A: Association with events or trends significant in the broad patterns of our history;

Criterion B: Association with the lives of significant individuals;

Criterion C: A property that embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction that represents the work of a master, or that possesses high artistic values;

Criterion D: Has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important to history or prehistory.

Criterion D is usually reserved for archaeological sites if they have yielded, or may likely yield, information important in pre-history or history. The property must have, or have had, information to contribute to our understanding of history and the information must be considered important. In general, Criterion D is used to evaluate historic sites and archaeological resources.

Eligibility for listing on either the NRHP rests on significance and integrity. A property must have both factors to be considered eligible. Loss of integrity, if sufficiently great, would overwhelm the historical significance of a resource and render it ineligible. Likewise, a resource can have complete integrity, but if it lacks significance, it must also be considered ineligible. “Integrity” is determined through applying seven factors to the historical resource: location, design, setting, workmanship, materials, feeling, and association.

28 The most widely accepted guidelines are contained in the US Department of Interior, National Park Service, “Guidelines for

Applying the National Register Criteria for Evaluation,” National Register Bulletin 15 (US Government Printing, Washington, DC, 1991, revised 1995 through 2002).

6. Evaluation of Significance


6.1 NRHP LISTING FOR BERKELEY MAIN POST OFFICE

The Berkeley Main Post Office is currently listed in the NRHP, the California State Historical Resources Inventory, and is a City Landmark and part of the Berkeley Civic Center Historic District. It was determined it to be eligible for listing in the NRHP under Criteria A and C, the nomination was approved by the Keeper of the NRHP in 1981, a copy of which is Appendix A. Tetra Tech has prepared a California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) 523A form, as part of the scope of this project, which is Appendix B. Because the property is already listed on the NRHP, the DPR 523A form for this Postal Service Historic Structures Report focuses on the current description of the Post Office and identifies any changes that have occurred since the property was listed.

Criterion A: The NRHP nomination for Berkeley Main Post Office states that “it is a characteristic and well preserved product of the Treasury Department Supervising Architect’s Office in the early part of this century, and embodies for the city of Berkeley the sense of mission which the government then put into its public building—buildings which will educate and develop the public taste and eventually elevate it to a higher plane.” The nomination goes on to state that “… Berkeley has few if any comparable public spaces where citizens from all over the city come frequently and freely and can experience the quality workmanship and civic pride that used to be part of government building.” The property is significant under Criterion A.

Criterion B: This property was not found to be eligible for listing under Criterion B.

Criterion C: The NRHP nomination for the Berkeley Main Post Office states that “outside and in, the building is conspicuous for fine and enduring materials. The lobby, particularly, is a civic treasure with its minimally altered marble, metal, and woodwork.” The Post Office building…”was hailed in its day as a happy medium between beauty and economy, standardization and locality, and in this it is a perfect example of the policy of its day.” This property is significant under Criterion C within the historic context and significant historic theme of Politics/Government. The property embodies distinctive characteristics of a post office designed and constructed in this period when the “Supervising Architect’s Office rhetoric of the era was consistently cost and cost efficiency conscious; the granite and marble and oak that look so rich today were chosen not just for local and national pride but for endurance. Detail after finely crafted detail turns out to have been standard utilitarian post office equipment—utility defined to include not just economy but the credo that “no government office or place so thoroughly belongs to the people without distinction or reservation. The lobby is the principal point at which the postal service touches the people and for that reason is deserving of particular attention.”



Criterion D: In rare instances, buildings themselves can serve as sources of important information about historic construction materials or technologies and can be significant under Criterion D. However, the Berkeley Main Post Office was not listed in the NRHP under Criterion D.

The Berkeley Main Post Office is also a contributor to the Berkeley Historic Civic Center District. The NRHP nomination for the Historic District (1998) summarizes the importance of the contributing buildings as “for almost one hundred years, Berkeley's civic center district has served the needs of its government and small community. Beginning in 1899 when the first City Hall building was strategically relocated to its current site, the district took over a half century to plan and develop. It embodies the political trends of the nation as well as the region and the city during the district's period of significance, 1909-1950. Both World Wars, the Depression, and local politics influenced the district's development. The district also represents the town's importance as an agricultural center for the surrounding region due to the influence of the first state university, the University of California, Berkeley.”

6.2 PERIOD OF SIGNIFICANCE

The significant, historic-character defining features of the Berkeley Main Post Office are of the Second Renaissance Revival style of architecture. The NRHP nomination does not include a period of significance for the Berkeley Main Post Office. A suggested period of significance would be its original construction date of 1914 through 1937, when the mural, sculpture, and additional basement space were added to the property, giving it the appearance it retains until the present day and therefore throughout most of its existence. The property is an example of a period of public building policy that established a national system of uniformity and new building economy instead of the system in which “buildings were constructed to fit whatever appropriation Congress was able to get” and constructing buildings with materials that would endure over time.29 The mural and sculpture on the building demonstrate the connection between the history of the building and the New Deal Art programs and the Treasury Relief Art Project of the 1930s.

6.3 SIGNIFICANT/HISTORIC CHARACTER DEFINING FEATURES

Interior character-defining features of this post office are many. The significant historic character defining features are as listed below:

Glazed arches between workroom and lobby;

Coffered lobby ceiling;

Individual service counter windows with detailed wood framing, brass grilles and feather-chip class grilles and service window doors;

29 NRHP Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office



Suzanne Scheuer mural over former postmaster’s office door;

Arches around postmaster’s door and service windows;

Marble baseboards and wainscot;

Capitals and columns in lobby and Corinthian cast ceramic and wood;

Band joining all columns and capitals of lobby (currently painted brown);

Carved woodwork on columns between entrance doors, windows, service bays and vestibule;

Entrance door wood frames with modified Corinthian capitals;

Wood and glass vestibule at center entrance;

Carved wood and triangular dentilled pediment over postmaster’s former office door (now elevator door) and lettering;

Post office boxes;

Original bulletin cases;

Marble staircase, oak handrail, and ornamental metal end pieces and railings; and

Landing of marble staircase with mosaic tiles and black, white and red fretwork around the edges.

Exterior character-defining features are listed below:

Mass and scale of building;

Hipped roof sheathed in tile with wide overhang;

Exterior siding, including poured concrete, limestone, terra cotta trim, and rusticated cast blocks at corners;

Arcade of eleven high round arches on plain Tuscan columns;

Loggia;

Marble on floor and wainscot of loggia;

Original wood frame pane arches with functioning transom windows;

Original double-hung windows with panes grouped in 3 vertical divisions;

Low cement windowsills with wave decoration Ornate groove along the top of the exterior walls;



Modernistic pilasters along the primary façade slightly above the roofline;

Pilasters flanking the entrance doors;

Entrance doors—three sets of paired oak and glass doors with brass fittings;

Columns with pilasters capped with extremely stylized Corinthian capitals;

Ornamental features of the exterior: small terra cotta frieze which tops the second story, wide terra cotta beltcourse with dentils, swags, medallions, and wave patterns below the 11 second story windows and around the entire building; cornice soffit; terra cotta shields above rusticated cast blocks; two rows of curved wooden brackets framing rectangular panels; wrought iron railings with heraldic shields and diagonal rope pattern;

Arches with low cement windowsills with wave decoration; and

David Slivka relief sculpture of postal workers, 1937, on east wall.

The property has undergone few alterations. A 130-foot addition was constructed in 1931 through 1932 at the rear of the original building deep building, along Milvia Street. This addition has a flat-roof and is one-story basement and was constructed sympathetic to the architectural style and materials of the original building. It has the same wall siding, cornice and window motif as the main façade and as on the sides facing the driveway and loading dock.

6.4 INTEGRITY

The Berkeley Main Post Office retains a high degree of all seven types of integrity: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association as it did when it was originally constructed and as it did when it was placed on the NRHP in 1981. There have been no alterations made to the property that has diminished its historical significance.


7 CONDITION ASSESSMENT The USPS requested that Tetra Tech provide a brief assessment of the condition of building materials and elements at the Berkeley Main Post Office. Tetra Tech was not asked to conduct materials testing or analysis or to recommend testing or treatment of materials. The following condition assessment provides a brief summary of the existing conditions of materials and elements that were visible at an “arm’s length” or more at the time Tetra Tech recorded the property and does not include a full treatment recommendation. The USPS did not request conditions assessment of systems such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems or of electrical systems and are not discussed below.

7.1 EXTERIOR

The exterior of the building materials and elements of this property are in excellent condition overall. The roof has been replaced since it original construction with in-kind materials as the original roof. The second story windows have been replaced with modern sliding windows, the original windows within the building are in good condition.

The exterior poured concrete walls, terra cotta, wood, and marble finishes and trim are also in very good condition and have been well-maintained. There appears to be little or no evidence of poor maintenance that is threatening the building’s preservation. The original poured concrete walls and decorative details on the façade of the building and the ornamental shields and wave decorations are also in very good condition with no broken or missing fragments detected as viewed from the sidewalk. The metal and woodwork as well as the relief sculpture are also in very good condition.

7.2 INTERIOR

The interior materials and features of the building are also in very good condition. The interior has been very well preserved. The marble wainscot, metal and woodwork throughout the lobby, counter windows, sashes, and ceilings appear as they did when the building was originally constructed. The post office boxes are in good condition and continue to be used. Some of the globes are missing from the hanging light fixtures.


8 QUALIFICATIONS Tetra Tech Historian/Architectural Historian Kara Brunzell conducted research, reviewed project information, and prepared the text for this report. Ms. Brunzell meets the History and Architectural History professional qualifications, as outlined by the federal government in Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61. She has a Master’s Degree in History/Public History from California State University, Sacramento, and more than 3 years of experience.

Julia Mates, Historian/Architectural Historian, meets the History and Architectural History professional qualifications as outlined by the federal government in Title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 61. Ms. Mates conducted the site visit photographed the property identified the historic character defining features of the building , and prepared the text for this report. Ms. Mates has a Master’s Degree in History/Public History and more than 10 years of experience conducting historic resource projects.


9 REFERENCES Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association Newsletter. 2012. United States Post

Office Building, Proud Cornerstone of Berkeley’s Civic Center, No. 40, Summer 2012.

Blumenson, John J.-G. 1981. Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms, 1600 – 1945. W.W. Norton, New York.

Northwest Information Center. 2012. Records Search Results. NWIC File No.: 12-0405 . October 29, 2012.

National Register of Historic Places Inventory 1981—Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office, Date Entered January 29, 1981.

National Register of Historic Places—Nomination Form, Berkeley Historic Civic Center District, Date Entered, July 29, 1998.

1 National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form, United States Post Office, Berkeley Main Post Office, Date Entered January 29, 1981.

United States Postal Service, 1982. Office of Real Estate, History of Post Office Construction, 1900-1940, United States Postal Service, Washington, D.C.

APPENDIX A

NRHP NOMINATION FORMS

APPENDIX B

DPR 523A FORM

APPENDIX C

NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE CONSULTATION REQUEST

APPENDIX D

LIST OF INTERESTED PARTIES

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