- City:
- Flagstaff, AZ
- Site Type:
- Post Offices, Federal Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Federal & Military Operations, Treasury Department
- Started:
- 1935
- Completed:
- 1937
- Contractor:
- Robert E. McKee
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
The Federal Building in downtown Flagstaff was constructed as the city’s main post office in 1935-1937. Plans had originally called for a combination Post Office and Federal Building, but they were dropped in 1931 by the Hoover Administration for lack of funds (Cline, p 311). When the New Deal came in, funding was restored in 1934.
The Federal Building is a gem of Moderne/Deco style architecture of the period. The basic form is a simple, two-story, rectangular box, but the facade is exceptional, consisting of three tall vertical openings (entrance and flanking windows) featuring gleaming copper panels and vertical bands. The cladding on the facade is buff terra cotta.
The Federal Building has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was sold by the U.S. Postal Service in 1983 and today serves as an office building; as of 2023 it houses 30 rented offices.
A New Deal bas-relief designed for the Post Office has been relocated to the new wing of the Coconino County Courthouse, one-half block north.
Source notes
Records of the Public Buildings Service: Completion views of federal buildings (prints), alphabetically by state and thereunder by city, to 1966. Box 3, RG 121, BS Series. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Building cornerstone.
Platt Cline, Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century. Flagstaff AZ: Northland Publishing Company, 1994, p. 311.
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on January 6, 2015.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker, Nicholas H. Pitts, Libby Goulet.
At this Location:
Site Details
Federal Cost | Total Cost |
---|---|
$116,000 | $116,000 |
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