{"nrhp_refnum":"79000559","name":"Old Post Office","other_names":["US Government Post Office and Federal Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"425 7th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Santa Rosa","county":"Sonoma County","state":"CA","lat":38.44174147900003,"lon":-122.71806935499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-11-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story Roman Renaissance Revival post office and federal building with a Spanish tile roof, built 1908-1909 in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. It was moved 800 feet north in 1979 to 425 Seventh Street.","why_significant":"It was designed by James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, known as the 'National Architect'. It was Santa Rosa's first federal building and part of the city's rebuilding after the 1906 earthquake. It is also one of the earliest California examples of the shift toward smaller federal buildings that suited local settings.","narrative":"Santa Rosa's Old Post Office was the city's first federal building, completed in 1909 after the 1906 earthquake leveled the downtown. Designed by Treasury Supervising Architect James Knox Taylor, it combines Roman Renaissance Revival styling with a Spanish tile roof, a stone-columned portico, granite steps, oak interiors and an advanced automatic hot-water heating system. Local firm Hoyt Brothers built it using mostly local craftsmen. Later changes included a 1926 rear addition and 1967 interior alterations for a county data processing center. In 1979, because an urban renewal shopping center was planned for the site, the 1,800-ton building was moved 800 feet north on rails and rollers, and the rear addition was removed. Its listing rests on its architecture, on Taylor's influence on federal design, and on its place among early California federal buildings that moved toward smaller-scale styles suited to local communities. A museum use was proposed after restoration.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect, Treasury Department; built by Hoyt Brothers","architectural_style":"Roman Renaissance Revival with Spanish tile roof","criteria":[],"status_note":"Moved in 1979 to a new site and awaiting restoration for museum use. A separate HABS record lists it as vacant, and the form marks it unoccupied or inaccessible until restored.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.50598-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/79000559.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000559/c042b1dc45-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79000559/c042b1dc45-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"E bailey","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonoma_County_Museum,_Sept_6_2025.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">E bailey</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sonoma_County_Museum,_Sept_6_2025.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862102","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q125536999"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/sonoma-county/old-post-office-79000559/"}