{"nrhp_refnum":"85000125","name":"US Post Office-El Centro Main","other_names":["El Centro Main Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"230 S. 5th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"El Centro","county":"Imperial County","state":"CA","lat":32.79080639500006,"lon":-115.55484158999997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-01-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The El Centro Main Post Office is a one-story federal post office building at 230 South 5th Street in El Centro, Imperial County, California, begun in 1931 and completed in 1932 on a half-acre site.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is primarily significant locally as one of the most monumental and sophisticated buildings in El Centro. It has secondary state significance as a heavily ornamented small post office. Its Beaux-Arts Classical style was already about 15 years out of date by 1932, which makes it unusual among 1930s post offices.","narrative":"Built between 1931 and 1932 at 230 South 5th Street, this one-story post office with a full basement serves El Centro, the Imperial County seat. A long arched loggia dominates the front, with Corinthian columns and pilasters, a wide terracotta frieze with dentils, wrought iron grates and railings, a bronze lantern over the entrance, and a red tile roof with copper gutters. Inside, the public lobby is decorated with plaster, marble and cast aluminum, and the floors use pink Tennessee marble borders. The exterior has not been altered. The building matters mainly at the local level because it is among the most monumental and refined structures in town and serves as a focus for the town's public spaces. Its Beaux-Arts Classical style was already dated by 1932, when Mediterranean Revival was the usual choice for small California post offices, so it is also an unusual, richly ornamented example of its type statewide.","period_of_significance":"1931-1932","architect_builder":"OSA/James A. Wetmore; Louis A. Simon","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts Neo-Classicism, with Italianate/Second Renaissance Revival influence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Exterior described as unaltered; the building is occupied and in government use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:27.98314-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/85000125.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000125/2b9a286af4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85000125/2b9a286af4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Cbl62","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Post_Office_Building,_El_Centro,_California.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Cbl62</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:U.S._Post_Office_Building,_El_Centro,_California.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123857384","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Centro_Main_Post_Office","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q65075155"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/imperial-county/us-post-office-el-centro-main-85000125/"}