{"nrhp_refnum":"86000163","name":"US Post Office-Great Barrington Main","other_names":["Great Barrington Main Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"222 Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Great Barrington","county":"Berkshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.20017575700007,"lon":-73.35955827699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-01-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story red brick post office at 222 Main Street (Route 41) in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, designed in 1935 and built in 1936 on a half-acre site.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as a unique example of the Class C construction category in the federal building classification system. It was designed by private architect Lorimer Rich from a standard floor plan, with an unusual Tuscan portico that suits the town's Colonial and Classical Revival buildings. It was also the eighth and first purpose-built home of the town's post office, ending its scattered locations. The reviewer called it a locally significant example of late institutional eclecticism in the Colonial Revival mode.","narrative":"Great Barrington's main post office is a one-story red brick building on Main Street, designed in 1935 and completed in 1936. Its walls are laid in Flemish bond with marble lintels, and a white tetrastyle Tuscan portico marks the recessed entrance. Inside, the lobby keeps white marble wainscoting, a dark terrazzo floor and original painted woodwork around the post office boxes. A rear loading canopy was added in 1960. Lorimer Rich, a private architect, adapted a standard federal floor plan at a time when most designs came from the Supervising Architect's office, and D. A. Sullivan & Sons built it. The building is cited as a unique example of a Class C federal building, with brick facing, stone trim and simple ornament. It was the eighth home of the town's post office and the first built for that purpose, replacing earlier quarters in stores, houses and the registry of deeds. Its temple-front facade fits the town's Colonial and Classical Revival architecture.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Louis A. Simon, Sup. Architect; Lorimer Rich, Architect; D.A. Sullivan & Sons, Contractor, Northampton, Massachusetts","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival (late institutional eclecticism) with a Tuscan temple-front portico","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in excellent condition, in government use; altered by a 1960 rear loading canopy and a new standing seam metal roof.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:56.244349-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/7943/63794316/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86000163.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000163/f6adcdc9db-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86000163/f6adcdc9db-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Post_Office,_Great_Barrington_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</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:United_States_Post_Office,_Great_Barrington_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794316","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office%E2%80%93Great_Barrington_Main","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891140"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/berkshire-county/us-post-office-great-barrington-main-86000163/"}