{"nrhp_refnum":"73001326","name":"New Bern Municipal Building","other_names":["United States Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Pollock and Craven Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New Bern","county":"Craven County","state":"NC","lat":35.10704441300004,"lon":-77.03836737599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Romanesque Revival building at Pollock and Craven Streets in New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina, built 1895-1897 as a federal post office, courthouse and customs house and now used as the municipal building.","why_significant":"It was built under the supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury, and its drawings are signed by Charles E. Kemper and William Martin Aiken. It is New Bern's only Romanesque Revival structure, with brick and carved stone work unusual for tidewater North Carolina. It survives substantially as built, including much interior trim, fixtures and furniture, and remains a major city landmark.","narrative":"Occupying the corner of Pollock and Craven Streets in New Bern, this Romanesque Revival building was constructed as a United States Post Office, Courthouse and Customs House. Congress authorized it in 1889, construction began in 1895, and it was occupied by 1897. Its designers worked under the Treasury's supervising architect. Pink granite, red and buff pressed brick, and carved stone create a colorful exterior, with a recessed corner entrance porch topped by copper bears, a gift from Bern, Switzerland. The original design had no tower; a clock tower designed by James Knox Taylor was added around 1910 and fitted with a Seth Thomas clock. When a new federal building opened on Middle Street in 1936, the city took title and has used the structure as its municipal building. The exterior remains nearly unchanged, and the interior keeps its basic plan, woodwork, light fixtures, furniture and original second-floor courtroom. It is New Bern's only Romanesque Revival structure.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury (W. J. Edbrooke); elevations signed by Charles E. Kemper, interior drawings by William Martin Aiken; tower designed by James Knox Taylor; built by Grace and Hyde; tower work by King Lumber Company","architectural_style":"Romanesque Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the City of New Bern and in use as a municipal building since 1936; condition listed as good, with the exterior virtually unchanged and the interior somewhat altered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.163228-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/20/7197/47719720/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/73001326.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001326/f1c335bfae-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73001326/f1c335bfae-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bern_Municipal_Building_(City_Hall).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_Bern_Municipal_Building_(City_Hall).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719720","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Bern_City_Hall","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18154969"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/craven-county/new-bern-municipal-building-73001326/"}