US Post Office-Knickerbocker Station
Also known as: Knickerbocker Station Post Office
Why it's listed
Knickerbocker Station is a two-story brick post office at 130 East Broadway on Manhattan's Lower East Side, built in 1935-7 to designs by William Dewey Foster. Foster was one of several private architects hired as consultants to the Supervising Architect's office during the expanded public building programs of the Great Depression. The building uses red brick in English bond, granite trim and a mansard roof. Its main facade centers on a projecting pedimented pavilion with a large multi-paned arched window, ocular windows and a carved roundel of Mercury. Inside, the public lobby keeps its marble wainscoting, plaster cornice and cream terrazzo floor. The building is a Colonial Revival work and is one of five Manhattan stations Foster designed. It is regarded as his most fully developed Colonial Revival postal station in the city. It has long served the Lower East Side's diverse, multi-ethnic community.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues it is an intact, representative example of 1930s federal architecture built under Depression-era public works programs. It shows typical post office features such as a symmetrical facade, a central entrance, brick and masonry construction and a standardized plan. It is also considered perhaps the most successful of Foster's Colonial Revival postal stations in New York City.
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 88002362, listed May 11, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 130 E. Broadway, New York |
|---|---|
| County | Manhattan |
| Listed | May 11, 1989 |
| Reference number | 88002362 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1935-7 |
| Architect / builder | William Dewey Foster, Consulting Architect |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition is rated good and the building is occupied and in government use. The nomination states that it retains integrity on both the exterior and interior. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Lower East Side Historic District |
| Coordinates | 40.71405, -73.99162 (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 88002362.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7891148
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.