US Post Office-Kensington
Also known as: Kensington Station
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
Kensington Station is a brick post office at 421 McDonald Avenue in Brooklyn, built in 1935-6 during the Great Depression. It was designed by Lorimer Rich, a consulting architect hired under a 1930 amendment to the Public Buildings Act that let the Treasury's Supervising Architect engage outside designers. The two-story building is painted white and has a gable roof with mock chimneys, multi-paned windows and a projecting pedimented portico on Doric piers. Its Colonial Revival design draws on Georgian and Greek Revival forms and was meant to look like an early-nineteenth-century house. That academic approach made it less typical than most New York post offices of the decade, and it closely resembles West Farms Station in the Bronx, also by Rich. The exterior remains largely intact, though later additions include a one-story north wing, and the interior has been substantially altered. Original lobby features such as the wood dado, lockboxes and terrazzo floor survive.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the building is architecturally significant for its distinctive, academic application of the Colonial Revival style to a public building, resembling an early-nineteenth-century residence. It is also tied to 1930s federal building programs meant to ease Depression-era unemployment, and to Rich's work as a consulting architect for the Supervising Architect of the Treasury.
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 88002461, listed November 17, 1988. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | 421 McDonald Ave., New York |
|---|---|
| County | Brooklyn |
| Listed | November 17, 1988 |
| Reference number | 88002461 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1935-6 |
| Architect / builder | Lorimer Rich |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival (drawing on Greek Revival and Georgian forms) |
| Areas of significance | Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Exterior retains a high degree of integrity; the interior has been substantially altered. Condition is marked excellent and the building is occupied and used as a postal station. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 40.64367, -73.97919 (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 88002461.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7890984
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.