{"nrhp_refnum":"97001458","name":"US Post Office-Hornell","other_names":["Old Hornell Post Office"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 Seneca St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hornell","county":"Steuben County","state":"NY","lat":42.05918869000004,"lon":-77.65016395699996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-12-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former United States Post Office at 50 Seneca Street in Hornell, Steuben County, New York, designed in 1915 and built in 1916-1917 as a one-story brick Georgian Revival building with mezzanines.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a representative example of a Georgian Revival public building in New York State and an early product of the Treasury Department's shift toward simpler, standardized post office designs under Acting Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore. It is also the only federally owned building ever erected in Hornell and a symbol of federal presence in the community, tied to local communications and politics.","narrative":"Built in 1916-1917 at the corner of Seneca and West Genesee Streets, Hornell's old post office is a one-story red brick building with mezzanines, a flat roof, limestone cornice and balustrade, and tall eight-over-eight windows set between rounded pilasters. Designed in 1915 under Treasury Department Acting Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore and built by the George A. Stiles Construction Company of Chicago, it reflects the Georgian Revival style and the move toward standardized, more economical federal designs. It remains the only federally owned building ever erected in Hornell, replacing a series of rented postal spaces. Inside, Tennessee marble wainscoting, white marble floor tiles, skylights, and two vaults survive. The school district owned it from 1965 until 1989, adding partitions and dropped ceilings that are considered reversible. Since then the building has sat unheated, and roof leaks have damaged interiors, though its walls and historic character remain intact.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1916-1963","architect_builder":"U.S. Treasury Department, Supervising Architect: James A. Wetmore; Builder: George A. Stiles Construction Co., Chicago, Il.","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival/Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Vacant since the Hornell Board of Education left in 1989; structurally sound but unheated, with roof leaks and interior water damage needing immediate attention.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.353876-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/97001458.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001458/d2323ae02f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001458/d2323ae02f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hornell_Post_Office_Aug_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY</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:Hornell_Post_Office_Aug_09.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75314739","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Post_Office_(Hornell,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7890971"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/steuben-county/us-post-office-hornell-97001458/"}