{"nrhp_refnum":"88002437","name":"US Post Office-Tonawanda","other_names":["Tonawanda Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"96 Seymour St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tonawanda","county":"Erie County","state":"NY","lat":43.01692866800005,"lon":-78.87942906299998,"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 one-and-one-half-story red brick Colonial Revival post office at 96 Seymour Street, Tonawanda, Erie County, New York, designed and built in 1939-40, with a non-contributing 1964 addition.","why_significant":"It is an intact, representative example of a federal building erected under Depression-era public works programs. It was designed in the Colonial Revival style by the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Treasury under Louis A. Simon. It is the largest of the eight Erie County post offices of the period and shows typical 1930s post office design.","narrative":"Tonawanda's main post office at 96 Seymour Street is a red brick Colonial Revival building completed in 1939-40. It rises one and a half stories on a limestone-clad foundation, with a slate gabled roof, an octagonal domed cupola over the central bays, and pedimented end pavilions. Windows are twelve-over-twelve sash set in recessed segmental arches, and the central entrance has engaged Doric columns and a fanlight. A 1964 addition on the north side extends the front to eleven bays but is not counted as historic. The post office was one of 136 planned for New York State under the 1931 amendment to the Public Buildings Act of 1926, a Depression-era public works effort. The Office of the Supervising Architect, directed by Louis A. Simon, designed it, and it is the largest of eight Erie County post offices from the period. Inside, the lobby has been heavily altered, and a 1942-3 mural by Symeon Shimin has been removed.","period_of_significance":"1939-40","architect_builder":"Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect; built by Henry Dattner, general contractor, of Detroit, Michigan","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as the post office; the lobby is heavily altered and the Shimin mural has been removed. The 1923 former post office across Fletcher Street is vacant.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:44.532978-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/88002437.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002437/69b1e4bcb9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002437/69b1e4bcb9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Pubdog","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_Post_Office_Tonawanda_NY_Sep_12.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pubdog</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:US_Post_Office_Tonawanda_NY_Sep_12.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75312815","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Tonawanda,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7891055"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/erie-county/us-post-office-tonawanda-88002437/"}