Post Office "Remarkably Well Preserved"

There is big news about the main B'game Post Office on Park Rd.  Its future has been in doubt due to the financial condition of the Postal Service that is leading to elimination of Saturday delivery in August among other actions.  But the local site has special characteristics that may (should!) affect what can be done with the building.  The news is that a Historical Structure Report prepared by Tetra Tech, Inc. in Oakland has determined that the Post Office is eligible for National Register of Historical Places status on two different criteria:

Criterion A: The Burlingame Main Post Office is significant under Criterion A for its association with the New Deal-era public works programs and policies under the significant theme of Politics/Government, as defined in

National Register Bulletin 13: How to Apply the National Register Criteria to Post Office.

Criterion C: 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 between 1930 and 1942 in plan, structure, design, and ornamentation. The Burlingame Main Post Office contains many distinctive elements of its type — post offices constructed between 1930 and 1942 by the federal government, as exemplified by the standard interior spatial arrangement, and high-quality materials and workmanship.

The report notes the building's Spanish Eclectic architecture, but is especially glowing about the interior: 

The interior of the post office has been remarkably well preserved. Though many post offices retain "high style" interior features such as marble wainscoting, few remain as unaltered as this one. Original bank-teller style service windows have been retained in contrast to the usual policy, which replaced these windows at most post offices with open counters for service decades ago. Most post offices have also replaced the original post office boxes, but Burlingame retains the originals, which match the metal trim so prominent in the lobby. Details like metal-trimmed bulletin boards, the service desks discussed above, and even pen holders have all survived the post office’s 71 years of use.

Most of us already knew this was a building with special original features and a warm, bronzed feel about it that reminds one of a time before post offices started to feel like a Kinko's...a time when the postal eagle flew proudly.

Comments

[hillsider]

Yeah, baby. Who said that--Dusty Baker?

[pat giorni]

Now, if we can just keep that eagle flying on Saturdays!!

[Joe]

Here's a notice from the City:

On March 20th from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. the Community Development Department staff will facilitate a community workshop to solicit input from all interested stakeholders regarding the development of Parking Lot and the Downtown Post Office. The following link provides background details for the meeting which will be held in the Lane Community Room at the Burlingame Public Library: http://www.burlingame.org/index.aspx?page=3324.

Representatives from Grosvenor will be in attendance to observe the meeting and participate as necessary. This initial meeting is to receive input from the community. The next meeting (date and time yet to be determined) is expected to be an opportunity for Grosvenor to present design concepts responding to the input.

[fred]

The obvious front runner got the gig. Land grabs, so wrong.

[Joe]

While I am tempted to post the entire editorial by Jon Mays at the DJ about B'game's downtown, Post Office and planning, here are two snippets to whet your appetite to click through on the link at the end:

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, you couldn’t have designed a more perfect downtown than that of Burlingame. Anchored by a train station next to a spacious park at the end of a retail-oriented avenue with a beautiful library and an architecturally challenged, yet adequate City Hall nearby — it has all the makings of what many cities across the country try to replicate. .....

One of the primary goals of the Downtown Specific Plan is to see if there is a way to make better use of the city’s parking lots. The first parking lot up for discussion in this workshop is Parking Lot E, right next to the post office. There is currently a development proposal for the site with 100 residential units, 35,000 square feet of restaurant space and/or retail and 125 residential parking spaces. To make up for the lost parking, the developer last year suggested paying in lieu fees or helping the city develop a parking structure on lot J, across Park Road from Lot E. There is also the matter of the post office itself, which a historic resource evaluation conducted by a consultant selected by the U.S. Postal Service concluded is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The evaluation was conducted as part of a plan to sell the location because of the Postal Service’s financial woes. However, the post office was found to be in excellent condition and has very little alterations from its original state in 1941 as a Public Works Administration building. So if it were to be included in any development plan, its preservation would be paramount.

http://archives.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?type=opinions&title=Downtown Burlingame going through changes&id=1766665&eddate=03/15/2013

Well said, Jon. You can write for the Voice anytime :-)