Gray County Historical Markers Gray County Historical Markers
Page 6
US Post Office--Pampa Main, Pampa
(National Register Listing)
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US Post Office--Pampa
Main, Pampa
Address: 120 E. Foster
Other Description: Spanish Renaissance Revival
Period: 1925-1949
Narrative: The U.S. Post Office in Pampa, Texas is an excellent
example of the Spanish Rennaissance Revival style in an
institutional settting, and a showcase of federallly funded
Depression-era architecture. The massive, stone, exterior
surfaces are carefully crafted and detailed, prividing a showcase
for the skills of the laborers and artisans employed on the
project. The structure contains a magnificent interior with even
more complex and sophisticated detail than the exterior. The
building is one of the most ornate, stylish, and expensive Post
Office structures ever erected in the Texas Panhandle.
When the U.S. Postal Service decided to erect a new building
Pampa in the early 1930s, several factors coincided to determine
the type of construction and size of the facility. The last 1920s
oil boom generated a tremendous volume of mail, and Pampa moved
froma third-class to a first- class post office in little more
than two years. The need for a new postal facility in Pampa
coincided with the rapid expansion of federal public works
programs to stimulate economic recovery and provide work for the
unemployed. The result of this combination of circumstances is a
truly outstanding building.
The Pampa Post Office is a reinforced-concrete building with
limestone veneer, topped by a hipped roof of red mission tile.
The smooth walls of the building rise from a slightly raised
basement. The first-floor entrance is about three feet above
grade in the center of the building's north facade.
Round arches are the dominant motif of the building. Across the
symmetrically arranged front (north) facade, five arched openings
hold four sets of metal multi-light casement windows as well as
the main entrance to the building. Ornate hand-forged grilles
cover these windows, and feature acanthus-leaf motifs, human
figures, and the Seal of the United States of America. To each
side of these windows, the arched motif is repeated in stone,
with a rope molding outlining the entrados of the arch. Inside
each of these arches is a tall Rennaissance-styled window. These
windows are topped by a broken pediment filled with a sculptured
cartouche. Brackets support the projecting window sills. This
same arrangement of arch and rectangular window is repeated three
times on the building's east facade. On the alley, or east,
facade are found rectangular windows without arches, as well as
three arche, multi-light windows that allow light into interior
workspaces.
The most ornate feature of the building's exterior is the
cornice. Scrolled modillions with the acanthus-leaf motif give
the appearance of supporting the eaves of the hipped roof. Below
this, an ornate frieze surrounds the building. Medallions
containing symbols of the area -- a plow, an oil derrick, a
beehive, and a shock of wheat -- alternated with sculptured
scrollwork of acanthus leaves, urns, and angels' heads.
Egg-and-dart and bead-and-reel moldings complete the frieze. A
panel with the carved words "United States of America"
is centered over the front entrance at the cornice line.
The rear portion of the building is simpler than the front, with
little ornamentation in comparison with the front of the
building. The area has large arched windows similar in shape, but
not in complexity, to those on the main facades. Scrolled metal
brackets support a metal gutter system around this portion of the
building. Only a large stylized eagle on the east facade lends
any interest. A loading dock is attached to the rear of the
building.
The Post Office is located on the southwest corner of E. Foster
and Ballard, with the main entrance facing north. The building
fills most of the 140-foot-wide and 125-foot- deep lot, leaving
only a small grassy area at the front and side and a small
parking and loading area at the rear. The structure is roughly
120 feet wide by 95 feet deep, with a 46-foot-tall smokestack on
the southwest corner. An ornate 59-foot flagpole that repeats the
acanthus leaf motif of the building is mounted at the front
entrance. The pole is raised above the level of the steps by a
scrolled concrete pedestal that forms part of the supporting wall
of the front steps. An ornate metal railing tops this wall.
The interior of the building consists of a basement and main
floor. The simply decorated basement was designed to contain four
offices, a "serving room" for postal employees, seven
store rooms, a fuel room, and boiler room. The first floor was to
house three offices, a work room, a money-order room, restrooms,
and a "mailing-vestibule" in addition to the lobby.
The entrance to the post office offers a glimpse of the visual
details that lie ahead. The entry has a vaulted ceiling painted
in pale terra cotta tones. The marble floors and steps to the
basement tie the area to the lobby beyond, though the intended
effect is somewhat altered by the addition of an airlock
constructed of gold-toned aluminum and glass doors.
The lobby is the largest and most ornate space in the building.
The most elaborate architectural details and expensive materials
were reserved for this, the public space of the building. For
example, the lobby floors are of marble, while other areas are
covered in oak or maple or left in natural concrete. The marble
floors and marble- covered columns and wainscot are complemented
by subtly shaded, pale terra cotta colored plastered walls.
Arched plaster work on the lobby walls repeats the exterior motif
of round arches outlined in rope molding.
The coffered ceiling is the most ornate part of the interior
design. Dark wooden beams form a square pattern on a plastered
background. The beams are decorated with stenciling in green,
red, blue, buff, and gilt. Major beams divide the room into
several sections; they are much heavier and more elaborately
decorated, with rope carving at the edges and scrolled support
brackets. Each of the two large, multi-light, frosted-glass
skylights is surrounded by a narrow band of diamond-shaped panes.
Other outstanding details include the ornate bronze doors of the
post office boxes; the decorative metal grilles above the boxes,
mail slots and service windows; and massive, carved, wooden
doors. Decorative metal writing tables complete the elegant
effect of the lobby. Only the aluminum and plastic-laminate
kiosks containing post office boxes, that have been added in
recent years disturb the serene elegance of the post office
interior. The Pampa Post Office is a truly outstanding example of
1930s, federally funded architecture.
The U.S. Post Office in Pampa, Texas, is an outstanding example
of the Spanish Rennaissance Revival Style popular in the
Southwest during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as an excellent
representation of the style as it was utilized by the federal
government for its institutional needs. Built during the depths
of the Depression, it was an unusually elaborate and expensive
structure. Its size and elaborateness is indicative of the sudden
impact and raised expectations of the Gray County oil boom of the
late 1920s. Thus, the architectural significance of the Pampa
Post Office building is strengthened by the economic and
historical circumstances of its construction.
During the 1920s, Pampa frew from a sleepy ranching and farming
community of less than a thousand people into a bustling oil and
gas center of over ten thousand. As this development progressed,
the Postal Service attempted, in vain, to keep pace. Before the
oil boom occurred, the Pampa Post Office ranked as a third-class
office in leased or rented space. Annual postal receipts averaged
less than $20,000 per year before 1926, the year oil activity
began to increase in the Pampa area. By the end of 1926, however,
quarterly receipts had jumped to $127,671. On July 1, 1927, Pampa
became a second-class office, but continued growth forced an
upgrading of the office to a first-class post office on July 1,
1928. The Postal Service had attempted to keep pace with demand
by leasing larger facilities in the Duncan Building in 1926. But,
by the early 1930s it was obvious that a new facility was needed.
While Pampa's need for a new post office grew critical,
Congressman Marvin Jones was becoming increasingly influential in
Washington. Jones, an Amarillo Democrat, was consolidating his
power base in the House and would be a major player in
Roosevelt's New Deal. AS the Depression deepened, the Pampa
project grew from a simple small-town post office into a major
Public Works Administration undertaking. Jones, as chairman of
the subcommittee overseeing all such projects, pushed the Pampa
Post Office (and other Panhandle projects) ahead of others. The
original allotment of $80,000 was doubled to $160,000 before
construction began, then cut ten percent as an economy measure.
In early 1933, lots for the new structure were purchased from the
White House Lumber Company and the Fletcher estate. Total cost
for the 140-foot x 125-foot site was $25,000. Construction began
in the spring of 1933, and U.S. Congressman Marvin Jones spoke at
the cornerstone laying in June of that year. Contractor for the
project was Stibbard Construction Company, and the architects
were DeWitt and Washburn of Dallas and T.P. Lippincott of
Philadelphia. W.R. Walker of Detroit served as Superintendent of
Construction, while H.W. Olmsted was construction engineer for
the Treasury Department.
The Spanish Rennaissance Revival structure is a large building
for a town the size of Pampa, elaborate on both the interior and
exterior. The spectacular gold leaf, the rich color scheme, and
the liberal use of marble and other expensive materials is
outstanding. The Post Office is one of the most architecturally
significan buildings in Pampa, and one of the few where the
building's style is an integral part of the interior and exterior
design and not merely applied ornamentation.
The Pampa Post Office opened for business on June 25, 1934, and
was dedicated in a service on August 8. Once again, Congressman
Marvin Jones served as the speaker, addressing a crouwd of
several thousand onlookers. Pampa's Post Office opened with a
flourish in 1934, and quickly became a major local landmark and
social institution. Its completion marked the end of the downtown
building boom fueled by the expanding oil industry. No other
large-scale projects occurred in the downtown until the 1950s. As
in most small cities, the post office serves as a local gathering
place. The post office is a pulse point for Pampa on a day-to-day
basis, helping the city's downtown remain viable and active.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gray County 80th Birthday Celebration Committee, History of Post
Office, Pampa, Texas. Pampa: N.P., 1982.
Pampa Press, May 28, 1936.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Co. Maps, 1929, and 1929 updated in 1939.
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