{"nrhp_refnum":"86001377","name":"US Post Office-Lexington Main","other_names":["Lexington Main Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1661 Massachusetts Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lexington","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.44706148800003,"lon":-71.22512850899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-06-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A red brick Colonial Revival post office at 1661 Massachusetts Avenue in Lexington Center, Massachusetts, built 1937-1938 to a design from the office of Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon, with a 1964 rear addition.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as an example of standardized Public Works Administration-era post office design of the 1930s, modest in scale and compatible with its surroundings. The review comments add significance for its lobby mural of Paul Revere's arrival in Lexington, painted by local artist Aiden Lassell Ripley for the Treasury Department's art programs, and for its intact Georgian Revival style.","narrative":"Lexington's main post office, at 1661 Massachusetts Avenue, is a red brick building laid in Flemish bond, with granite trim, a wood cornice, a pitched roof and a wood cupola. Construction began in late 1937 and it was dedicated on November 28, 1938, at a cost of $65,000. It was designed in the office of Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon, following a standardized plan typical of 1930s post offices, and its Colonial Revival styling reflects the town's Revolutionary War associations. A 1964 addition wraps the rear and replaced the symmetrical original plan with an asymmetrical one. The lobby was remodeled at that time. The lobby also holds a canvas mural, The Arrival of Paul Revere in Lexington, April 19, 1775, by Lexington artist Aiden Lassell Ripley, produced under the Treasury Department's art programs. Reviewers valued the building for its modest scale, its intact Georgian Revival character and the mural, even though it was less than fifty years old when listed.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect; Sandros & Co., Contractor; Harold M. Turiello, Architect for 1964 addition","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival (Georgian Revival)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Occupied, government use; exterior in good condition, interior fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:02.32989-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/42/7956/63795642/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/86001377.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001377/3e73aa853e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001377/3e73aa853e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Post_Office,_Lexington_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Post_Office,_Lexington_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795642","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office%E2%80%93Lexington_Main","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891153"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/us-post-office-lexington-main-86001377/"}