Gilbert Stanley Underwood Sites

Sitka, Alaska's City Hall was originally constructed as the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse. Constructed during the Great Depression, the concrete-construction federal building was completed to replace a wooden frame structure that had burned in 1936. The two-story building was designed in the prevailing Moderne style with simple Art Deco details and was constructed for $168,000. It has been used as Sitka's city hall since 1993.

The Downtown Post Office in Burbank, CA, was constructed by the Treasury Department between 1937 and 1938. The Mission Revival style Post Office was designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood. "Its Spanish roof and five arches grace the facade that welcomes patrons inside. The suspended lanterns in the porch are reminiscent of a Spanish hacienda that provides beauty as well as shelter. The main entrance’s double doors are handcrafted and trimmed with blue and red. The architectural theme of the building is further carried out in the interior. Masonry floors and tiled walls decorate the public areas and elicit a...

"Constructed almost twenty years before Alaska became the forty-ninth state, the Federal Building in Anchorage symbolized the U.S. government's commitment to the economic growth and development of the territory. Providing residents with a post office, courthouse, and other federal services, it was the first large federal building constructed in Anchorage." (U.S. General Services Administration) "The building housed every federal agency with an office in Anchorage, and tenants included the Civilian Conservation Corps, the United States Department of the Interior, the Signal Corps, and the Alaska Railroad. In order to accommodate all of them, the building expanded several times. The first wing...

This Mission Revival style building was built under the Roosevelt Administration and served as the main mail distribution for LA until 1994. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. Only a part of this structure still functions as a post office, but the front lobby and its WPA murals have been preserved.

This former San Francisco post office, originally known as the Rincon Annex, was built in 1939-40 and served as the major package transfer center through the city's port – then the largest on the West Coast.  The building was paid for by the Treasury Department and designed by architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood in the Streamline Moderne style. The detail work, inside and out, is exceptional.  The exterior scrim features repeated dolphin bas-reliefs and carved eagles across the facade.  The exterior windows and doors are beautiful  examples of the Art Deco love of cast aluminum.  The interior lobby is done in green...

Timberline Lodge was built as a ski lodge 6,000 feet up on Mount Hood, and it still serves that purpose; but it was equally a showcase for the accomplishments of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Timberline Lodge  was constructed between 1936 and 1938, a rapid pace considering the frequently inclement weather on the mountain. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Lodge on September 28, 1937 – five months before completion of the interior in February 1938 – after which the lodge was opened to the public. The 'Magic Mile' chairlift and Silcox Hut at 7,000 feet opened in 1939.  The four-story structure...

The building is 16 stories and 220 feet or 67 meters high.

Built between 1937 and 1940, the U.S. Courthouse was the third federal building constructed in Los Angeles, CA. At the time of its completion, it was the largest federal building in the western United States. According to the U.S. General Services Administration's registry of historic buildings, "Gilbert Stanley Underwood was selected to design the building as consulting architect to the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department. The actual plans were prepared by the Supervising Architect's Office. Underwood was acclaimed for his public architecture. His work includes lodges in National Parks, over two dozen post offices, a number of...

'The United States Mint at San Francisco occupies an imposing site on the summit of a rocky hill overlooking Market Street, the main thoroughfare of the city. The southern approach consists of a double flight of winding stone steps to a platform from which a single flight extends to the portal in the wall of the building. There is only one approach for vehicles. The structure is built around a central court and is four stories in height. ... The building is fireproof and is constructed of reinforced concrete with the exterior walls faced with granite. The design is simple...

The Treasury Department funded the construction of the Seattle federal courthouse, which was the first single-purpose federal courthouse on the west coast.  The project was originated in 1936 by the department's Procurement Division and completed in 1940, by which time responsibility for federal facilities had been transferred to the Federal Works Administration, where the old Procurement Division had morphed into the Public Buildings Administration. The design of the courthouse is Moderne, a stripped-down and flattened version of Neoclassical, that was common for public buildings at the time.  The Supervising Architect of the Treasury Department was Louis Simon and Consulting Architect was...