US Post Office-St. Johnsville
Also known as: St. Johnsville Post Office
Why it's listed
This one-story brick post office at 25 East Main Street in St. Johnsville was built in the late 1930s to a standard Treasury Department design by Supervising Architect Louis A. Simon. Its Colonial Revival details include a central entrance with fluted Doric columns, a blind fanlight holding an eagle, a denticulated cornice and a copper-clad gable roof topped by a cupola. Inside, the L-shaped lobby keeps its tile floor, wainscot, wooden screenline and lockboxes. The site was cleared in 1936 when the early nineteenth-century Getman House hotel was razed. The design was used for thirteen nearly identical post offices in New York State, the largest related group in the state. The lobby also holds a 1940 mural, Early St. Johnsville Pioneers, by Jirayr H. Zorthian, painted under the Section of Fine Arts and showing relations between Indians and early settlers. The building is valued as an intact example of Depression-era federal architecture.
Significance in brief: It is an intact example of the federal public architecture built during the Great Depression, in a simplified Colonial Revival style. Its design was the most popular in New York State, used for thirteen nearly identical post offices. It also holds a well-preserved 1940 mural by Jirayr H. Zorthian, commissioned through the Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts, showing local history.
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 88002434, listed May 11, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Main St., St. Johnsville |
|---|---|
| County | Montgomery County |
| Listed | May 11, 1989 |
| Reference number | 88002434 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1936-1940 |
| Architect / builder | Treasury Department, Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect; general contractor Loucks and Clarke Corporation of Wallingford, Connecticut |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| Areas of significance | Art, Politics/Government, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied; the form states the building keeps a very high degree of integrity on both exterior and interior. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | St. Johnsville Historic District |
| Coordinates | 42.99881, -74.67804 (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 88002434.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q7891051
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.