United States Post Office, Federal Annex
Also known as: Federal Annex; Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building
Why it's listed
Rising ten stories on a 2.4-acre block in downtown Atlanta, this post office annex was built between 1931 and 1933 as a Public Works Administration project. Architect Albert Ten Eyck Brown designed it to handle mail sorting and distribution as well as public postal service. Its stepped, blocky form is clad in granite and marble, with smooth walls and restrained Art Deco ornament, including nickel-alloy entrance panels showing eagles and a shield. Inside, the east lobby has Tennessee, Vermont and York Fossil marble and nickel-alloy fittings. The site faced Terminal Station, and tunnels carried mail between the two by conveyor, making the building the central postal facility for the southeastern United States. It is regarded as one of Atlanta's finest examples of 1930s federal architecture in the Modern Classic style. The Postal Service left in 1980, and the General Services Administration acquired the building in 1981 for federal offices, which remain its use.
Significance in brief: The building is argued to be significant under Criterion C as an excellent example of Modern Classic architecture with Art Deco detailing, and one of Atlanta's finest federal buildings of the era. It also served as the central postal facility for the southeastern United States, and its location opposite Terminal Station allowed mail to move by rail through connecting tunnels.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 04001217, listed February 10, 2006. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 77 Forsyth St., Atlanta |
|---|---|
| County | Fulton County |
| Listed | February 10, 2006 |
| Reference number | 04001217 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architect / builder | Albert Ten Eyck Brown, with associates Alfredo Barili, Jr. and J. W. Humphreys; James A. Westmore was Supervising Architect |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement / Modern Classic; Modern Movement / Art Deco |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Architecture, Communications, Transportation |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Postal Service occupied it until 1980; the General Services Administration acquired it in 1981, and it is now used as federal government offices. Exterior repair work begun in the early 1990s was left unfinished at the time of writing. |
| Acreage | 2.5 |
| Coordinates | 33.75464, -84.39432 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 04001217.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14686711
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.