{"nrhp_refnum":"83001246","name":"U.S. Post Office","other_names":["Federal Building","U.S. Post Office-El Viejo Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Twelfth and I Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Modesto","county":"Stanislaus County","state":"CA","lat":37.64095438100003,"lon":-120.99765319499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-02-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick federal building with a raised basement at Twelfth and I Streets in Modesto, California, designed in 1931 by the Treasury Department's Supervising Architect's office and built in 1932-33 as the city's post office.","why_significant":"The nomination argues local significance in architecture, art and politics/government. It is a well-preserved example of a small neoclassical public building from the Supervising Architect's office. Its lobby holds the only Depression-era federally sponsored tempera murals in Modesto, and it was the first federal building erected in the city, as part of the Hoover-era building program.","narrative":"Standing on a corner lot two blocks from downtown Modesto, this one-story brick building with a raised basement was erected in 1932-33 as the city's federal building and post office. It was designed in 1931 by the Treasury Department's Supervising Architect's office, then headed in an acting capacity by James A. Wetmore, and built by Murch Brothers Construction Company of St. Louis. Round-arch terra cotta arcades, sandstone quoins, a granite base and a terra cotta entablature give the plain square mass its classical character. Inside, the public lobby keeps travertine walls and columns, a quarry tile floor and tempera murals painted by Ray Boynton in 1936, the only such murals in Modesto. The building was the first federal structure put up in the city and belonged to the large federal construction program begun under the Hoover administration. Its exterior remains nearly original, and it is considered a local landmark and neighborhood anchor.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Acting Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore (Supervising Architect's office, Treasury Department); built by Murch Brothers Construction Company of St. Louis","architectural_style":"Neoclassical (classical idiom, Supervising Architect's office design)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in government use; the exterior is described as virtually unaltered and well maintained, while the interior was remodeled in 1967 and the basement has few original finishes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.606203-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/83001246.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001246/3d8a4ea644-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83001246/3d8a4ea644-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Saeidb","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:El_Viejo_Post_Office1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Saeidb</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:El_Viejo_Post_Office1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123862168","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Viejo_Post_Office","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5352337"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/stanislaus-county/u-s-post-office-83001246/"}