Post Office (former) - Riverhead NY

City:: Riverhead, NY
Site Type:: Post Offices, Federal Facilities
New Deal Agencies:: Treasury Department, Federal & Military Operations, Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
Started:: 1935
Site Survival:: Extant

Description

The historic former post office in Riverhead was constructed during the Great Depression with Treasury Department funds. Today the building, now known as the Old Post Office, houses various businesses.

“The old Riverhead Post Office was designed by Louis A. Simon who was Supervising Architect for the United States Treasury Department. Simon also designed the Post Office buildings in Bay Shore, Northport, and Westhampton Beach. According to the Riverhead Town Historian, the land for the Post Office was purchased in 1932, with the building erected in 1935 and dedicated in November of that year. The post office was a depression-era public works project. It is built in a simplified Colonial Revival style.” (wikipedia)

This post office was one of several in the area built with PWA funding: A 1933 article in the Suffolk County News described the PWA allotments for this and other nearby post offices:

“Actual allotments for post office buildings in Nassau and Suffolk Counties, amounting to $502,430, have been made by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. This sum will provide three new post office buildings in Suffolk and four in Nassau, as follows: Suffolk—Bay Shore, $71,270; East Hampton, $73,400; Riverhead, $81,000. Nassau—Floral Park, $67,760; Garden City, $84,300; Port Washington, $65,300; Oyster Bay, $59,430.”