Ukiah Main Post Office

Ukiah's main post office, at 224 North Oak Street, is a one-story reinforced concrete building with a full basement, finished in the Streamlined Moderne style. It opened in January 1937 and gave the town's post office its first permanent home after 79 years and about two dozen rented locations. Funded through New Deal public building appropriations, it was the largest federal public works project in inland Mendocino County during the 1930s. Distinctive features include steel sash windows, granite entry steps, a bronze eagle over the door, and a walnut-stained Alderwood vestibule. The thick walls, basement shooting range, and inspectors' mezzanine gallery reflect its security-minded design. Inside the lobby, Ben Cunningham's egg tempera mural, Resources of the Soil, was added in 1938 and depicts timber, vineyard, orchard and rangeland work. Changes since 1937 include a wheelchair ramp, replaced front doors and a modern service counter. The building remains in postal use and is valued as a well-preserved example of New Deal architecture and art.