The Historic Troy Post Office

The Historic Troy Post Office. (Circa 1910). , Side A , Chiseled in the cornerstone are the words, Franklin MacVeagh, Secretary of the Treasury, James Knox Taylor, Supervising Architect, MCMX. , This Classical Revival-style Post Office remained in service until 1980. The building draws heavily on both Roman and Greek models for its design. It has two stories and a basement; with the main workroom having the full height of the building. The massive revolving door of oak, with brass push plates, was an innovation when the building was first occupied. The building measured 40 by 80 feet on a lot 120 by 100 feet. Parcel post service was instituted all over the country in 1912. In January 1913, The Messenger reported that the parcel post business was “good in Troy and is growing by leaps and bounds.” During the first seven days, more than 800 package arrived in the city. During that same period, there were about 600 packages distributed from Troy by parcel post. , Side B: , The building has a seven-bay front with a closely engaged portico. The portico has two brick pilasters, which stand in high relief to the main façade and four engaged modified Doric columns of brick with limestone capitals and bases. Five Palladian arched openings with large keystones fill the space between the columns, the center opening containing the main entrance doors, the other openings containing double windows. A small belt course of limestone runs above the windows, and the brick wall above is paneled as if for five blind windows. The columns are topped by a molded architrave and a wide frieze where the name of the building has been placed. Rising from the frieze is a handsome cornice with compound crown molding and a dentil band. Still on the front façade, the rectangular pilasters are flanked by windows on either side: large sash windows on the lower floor and smaller windows on the second story. Lower than the entrance cornice is a similarly detailed cornice which runs around the top of the entire building. , After being renovated in July 2007, the old post office reopened to the public in 2008 as the Johnson Center for the Arts.