{"nrhp_refnum":"88002503","name":"US Post Office-Forest Hills Station","other_names":["Forest Hills Station"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"106-28 Queens Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Queens","state":"NY","lat":40.72170034900006,"lon":-73.84692910799998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-11-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story, flat-roofed post office at 106-28 Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, built in 1937-38 to a design by consulting architect Lorimer A. Rich. It is clad in reddish-brown terra cotta over a granite base.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be a distinguished and unusual federal building in a streamlined, modern design derived from the International style. It is also noted for its extruded terra cotta facades, a new building technology, and for Sten Jacobsson's terra cotta relief sculpture. It is considered one of the finest small-scale modernistic federal buildings in New York State.","narrative":"Forest Hills Station is a one-story post office on Queens Boulevard in Queens, built in 1937-38 during the Depression-era federal building program. Consulting architect Lorimer A. Rich gave it a flat roof, smooth walls, asymmetrical massing and little ornament, drawing on the International style. Its reddish-brown facade uses extruded terra cotta, an innovation of the 1930s that was cheaper than the limestone first specified and was used on only a few other New York State post offices. Above the entrance is a terra cotta relief, \"Spirit of Communication,\" by Sten Jacobsson, one of the Treasury Department's commissioned artworks for post offices; local residents protested the nudity of its figure. Most post offices of the decade were Colonial Revival, so this streamlined design is unusual and probably influenced the nearby Woodhaven Station. The exterior remains largely intact, while the lobby was altered but keeps its terrazzo floor and marble walls.","period_of_significance":"1937-38","architect_builder":"Lorimer Rich (consulting architect); C.H. Johannsen & Co. of New Jersey, general contractors","architectural_style":"International style (streamlined modern)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a post office; exterior retains a high degree of integrity, interior lobby partly altered, workroom and mailing platform expanded in 1965-66.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:45.799032-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/88002503.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002503/2ef08e4031-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88002503/2ef08e4031-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forest_Hills_USPS_11375_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Forest_Hills_USPS_11375_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75314460","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Forest_Hills,_Queens)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7890948"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/queens/us-post-office-forest-hills-station-88002503/"}