{"nrhp_refnum":"88002410","name":"US Post Office-Potsdam","other_names":["Potsdam Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"21 Elm St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Potsdam","county":"St. Lawrence County","state":"NY","lat":44.66946532800006,"lon":-74.98437743999995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, U-shaped yellow brick and limestone post office at 21 Elm Street in the village of Potsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York, built 1932-33 to designs from the office of the Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an outstanding example of federal Depression-era public works architecture. It is one of few New York post offices of its period designed in the Classical Revival style, with a colossal Greek Doric portico, rather than the more common Colonial Revival. It also complements nearby buildings in the Market Street Historic District in scale, color and materials.","narrative":"Located at 21 Elm Street in Potsdam, New York, this post office was built in 1932-33 and opened for business on March 6, 1933. The two-story, U-shaped building is clad in yellow brick with limestone trim. Its main facade has a colossal seven-bay recessed portico with fluted Greek Doric columns, reached by granite stairs flanked by cast-iron urns. Funds of $135,000 were appropriated under the Public Buildings Act, and Rosen & Fischel of Chicago served as builder. The design came from the office of James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect of the Treasury. Most small New York post offices of the era used a Colonial Revival style, so this Classical Revival design is unusual and recalls earlier work by James Knox Taylor, such as the Fulton Post Office. The interior has been heavily altered, though parts of the lobby keep terrazzo floors, marble baseboards and cast-stone walls. The exterior still fits the scale and materials of the nearby Market Street Historic District.","period_of_significance":"1932-3","architect_builder":"James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect; builder Rosen & Fischel of Chicago, Illinois","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied and in good condition; the interior was heavily altered within the two years before the form, though the exterior retains integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.877976-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/88002410.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002410/27f552cd36-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002410/27f552cd36-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Post_Office_Potsdam_NY_May_11.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Albany, New York, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:U.S._Post_Office_Potsdam_NY_May_11.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75314682","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Potsdam,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891034"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/st-lawrence-county/us-post-office-potsdam-88002410/"}