US Post Office-Arlington
Also known as: Arlington Post Office
Why it's listed
Built in 1937, this one-story brick post office at 3118 North Washington Blvd. in Arlington, Virginia, follows a pentagonal plan that fits a triangular lot at the meeting of Washington Boulevard and North Hudson Street. Its entrance faces the point of the triangle, under a domed portico flanked by arched tripartite windows. The design came from the office of Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, and appears to draw on Tudor Place in Georgetown. Inside, the lobby has marble walls, a terrazzo floor and seven murals by Auriel Bessemer showing Virginia history and local recreation. The building opened in December 1937 as the first federal building in Arlington County. It consolidated postal service that earlier came from several separate post offices and offered a shared address for communities that had thought of themselves as individual villages. It was listed for this role in county identity and for its architecture. Later changes were mostly in service areas and left the public facades and lobby largely intact.
Significance in brief: It was the first federal building in Arlington County and helped unify the county's separate suburban villages into one community with a single Arlington identity. It is also an excellent example of Georgian revival architecture adapted to a modern aesthetic, and its interior murals reinforce its civic role. The form says the exceptional significance needed for a building under 50 years old is met only for Criterion A.
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 86000151, listed February 7, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 3118 N. Washington Blvd., Arlington |
|---|---|
| County | Arlington County |
| Listed | February 7, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86000151 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1937 |
| Architect / builder | Louis A. Simon, Supervising Arch.; J.K. Ruff of Baltimore (general contractor) |
| Architectural style | Georgian revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Art, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied and in use as the Arlington main post office; condition marked good, with later alterations that the form says do not affect integrity. |
| Acreage | 0.8 |
| Coordinates | 38.88561, -77.09522 (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 86000151.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q14713407
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.