{"nrhp_refnum":"86001188","name":"US Post Office-South Hadley Main","other_names":["South Hadley Main Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1 Hadley St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"South Hadley","county":"Hampshire County","state":"MA","lat":42.258583448000024,"lon":-72.57476640099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-05-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A federal post office building at 1 Hadley Street on the town common of South Hadley, Massachusetts, constructed in 1940 to designs by architect Leon Pernice and built by J.D. Hedia Construction Co.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the post office enhances the small college-town common, with a distinctive curved colonnade and a design that blends Public Buildings Administration standardized simplified classical plans with regional expression. It also cites the 1942 lobby mural by Saul L. Levine, a WPA-era work linking the building to nearby Mount Holyoke College.","narrative":"Facing the tree-shaded town common of South Hadley, Massachusetts, this post office was built in 1940 to designs by Leon Pernice of West Springfield, with J.D. Hedia Construction Co. as builder. Red brick laid in English bond rises from a granite base, and a three-bay portico with limestone-sheathed columns and a curved colonnade fronts the common. The style is simplified classical, with symmetrical massing and plain surfaces. Inside, the lobby keeps its terrazzo floor, marble wainscot, original mouldings and wood-and-glass vestibule, although a 1968 enlargement brought a modernized lobby and a compatible exterior addition. The building reflects the period when federal post offices followed standardized plans from the Public Buildings Administration, yet Pernice gave it a regional character. A 1942 mural by Saul L. Levine, titled Composite View of South Hadley, depicts student life at Mount Holyoke College across the street and ties the building to the college community and to New Deal public art.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Leon Pernice, Architect; J.D. Hedia Construction Co., Builder","architectural_style":"Simplified classical","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a post office; enlarged and remodelled in 1968, with the interior lobby partly modernized.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:12:59.846483-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/19/7954/63795419/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001188.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001188/64a51bedd7-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001188/64a51bedd7-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Post_Office,_South_Hadley_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,_South_Hadley_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795419","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office%E2%80%93South_Hadley_Main","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891174"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/hampshire-county/us-post-office-south-hadley-main-86001188/"}