fV.'1~o ' IO . 306IR.v 10· 141 UNITEOS1 1\1 LS OL!',\ IHMLI\: 1 01· rilL INI EKIOR FOR NPS USE ONLY NATI ONAL PARK SERVICE NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES RECEIVED INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM DATE ENTERED fOR FEDERAL PKOPERTIES SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS ONAME Four Building Act of 1926 Post Offices and Thirty-Two Public ~Jol'ks HISTORIC Administration ' Post Offices 'Thematic Resources ANDI OR COMMON DLOCATION STREET & NUMBER See i ndi vi dua 1 inventory forms NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY, TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRI CT VICINITY OF STATE CODE COUNTY CODE DCLASSIFICATION CATEGORY OWNERSHIP STATUS PRESENT USE _DISTRICT ~PUBLIC .xOCCUPIED _AGRICULTURE _MUSEUM _ BUILDINGI SI _PRIVATE _UNOCCUPIED _COMMERCIAL _PARK _STRUCTURE _BOTH _WORK IN PROGRESS _EDUCATIONAL _ PR IVA TE RESIDEN CE _SITE PUBLIC ACQUISITION ACCESSIBLE _ENTERTAI NMENT _RE LIG IOUS _ OBJECT _ IN PROCESS .x YES : RESTRICTED iLGOVERNMENT _SCIENTIFIC (X) Thematic _BEING CONSIDERED _ YES : UNRESTRICTED _INDUSTRIAL _l RANSPOR TATI ON Group _ NO _MILITARY _ OTHER [I AGENCY REGIONAL HEADOU A RTERS (If .p{)lic~bI~J ____-,--><O-'-':w'-:'-n:-::e.!....r ...... : --:,U ,-,-,n i teU_t.aJes_ Posta 1 Servi ce STREET & NUMBEA r ~ eiT1phis Field Real Estate and Buildings Office Agency: 1 North Front Street CITY. TOWN STATE -_ VICINITY OF TN 3810 3 DLOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION COURTHOUSE REGISTR Y OF DEEDS, ETC STREET & NUMBER See individual inventory forms CITY . TOWN STATE o REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS TITLE Survey work carried out as an integral part of this thematic nomination DATE _FEDERAL _STATE _COUNTY _ LOCAL DEPOSITOR Y FO R SU RVEY RECORD S CIT Y, TOWN STATF .. - fJ DESCRIPTION CONDITION CHECK ONE CI _EXCELLENT _DETERIORATED _UNALTERED _GOOD _RUINS _ ALTERED .~ .1 _FAIR _ UNEXPOSED DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL A Note: See individual inventory forms for specific descriptio s. All of the Post Offi~es included in thi~ thematicnominatio are located in Mi ssissi 1I and were constructed in the late 1930's and ·earl 1940'su ~er the Public Buildina i Act of 1926 or the Public Works Administration of the Fe~ ral Govern me nt, set u in 1933. i I The sites and their architects and builders if known re as follows: I -i GoooS'b u ~e.d unde ~b-t i Bu 'hling AG of 9'~ Site Architect Bu il der - Crysta 1 Springs f(~O -4 ~ Office of the Super- Dye-Mullins Const. Co. ~ vising Architect (OSA) Columbus, MS ! I Eu pora (t7Jt /) OSA Algernon-Blair i I Montgomery, AL ~1acon ("'1«0) OSA Unknown 11 Popl arvi 11 e(tCflfl) OSA H. D. Wh ite 8! Co. -.J Chicago, IL Constructed under Public Works Administration Site Architect Builder Amory (1~37) Unknown Pittma.n Brothers New Orleans, LA Bay St. Louis (1«3 5 ) Office of the Super­ Dye-Mullins Const. Co. vising Architect (OSA) Co 1 umbu s, ~1S Ba tesvill e _(nqo) OSA'~ H.D. White & Co. Chi cago, IL Belzoni (I~.37) OSA James C. Mi 11 er 1'1 Campbellsville, KY I .1 Boonevi 11 e (IP'f) Leroy Barton Murphy Pound Carthage (('(3 1) Shelby Olvy Yarborough Unknown 11 Charl eston (IQ3t'f) OSA . ' Unknown · ! I Cleveland (1'13'1) OSA Unknovtn I ! ~ Columbia ~q"/XpeA'U) Shourds & Bean Dye-t·1ull i ns Co 1umbus ( I~ 3~) R. Stanley Brown Murphy Pound Durant ( 13"1) OSA B.L. Knost II Pass Christian, MS I I Fores t (113Sj OSA Algernon-Blair } Montgomery, AL Hattiesburg ~'P3··3'1) Juan G. Landry & Mathew Rauen Const. Co. I, Rathbone Oepuys Chicago, IL I _ Hazlehurst ((1'18) . OSA Algernon-Blair Houston (".,0) OSA Charles Davis, Inc. Jacksonville, FL Indianola (I'~5) OSA Unkno v: n "* Kosciusko (It:t31.XPS P.'Z4) OSA Algernon-Blair ~ Leland (1'131,) ) . OSA Unknown ! j Lexi ngton ( lq ~1 Unknown Algernon-Blair I . Lou; svi1l e (1'1'3'5) OSA Dye-Mull ins I I , I, ; 1 __- ,m No ,:6 JOO~ 0. 11 10· 741 UN 1.1 L [) ST" II.S 1)1 1' .\ IU i\.ll 1'< 1 0 I· 1111 . 1 N 11 .1\ 1U I{ FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED NA TlONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMI,NATION FORM·-< DATE EIHERED Description of Physical Appearance--tontinued (2) CONTI NUATION SHEET 11 EM NUMBCfl PAGr: t Lumberton (('1~XP6A'2b) OSA Algernon-Blair Magno 1 i a (i'?'1<1--3 -r) OSA Pi ttman ·Bros. NeVi Albany (tOr-) OSA Unknovm Newton (1t:{.3(.) OSA ~~urphy Pound Okolona (lft37) OSA Unknown Philadel phia ~1'H5"-j") CSA Unknown Picayune (1'138 OSA Henry I. Flynn Const. Co. Pontotoc (,'t~.? - OSA Unknovm Ripley ((,)8) OSA Algernon-Blair Tyl ertovln ( .~()) OS.A. Dye-t~ull ins Waynesboro (lq~'1) OSA Chandler Const. Co. Springfield, IL * ~' /inona (l'132.X.PI3A'21.) OSA UnknO\vn Four themes are interwoven in this research group: 1) the circumstances of con­ struction involving the Public Building Act of 1926 and the Public Horks Administra­ tion, 2) commonalities of architectural style, 3) artworks contained within tv!enty-eight of the thirty-six buildings, 4) small town settings. Together these structures represent a significant government response to public need at a difficult time in this country's development, follO\ving the most severe de­ pression in its history_ The first Public Buildings Act of 1913 and the second Public Building Act of 1926 were supplemented in 1933 by Congress, on the urging of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, with the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. Between 1933 and 1941 a tremendous amount of construction resulted in the United States, includ­ ing four post offices in Mississippi construct~d under the 1926 Act and thirty-two post offices in Mississippi constructed under 1933 PWA legislation. See the accompany­ ing document entitled "Federal Construction I'Jork, 1913-1941," for a more complete dis­ cussion of such work carried out across the country under various legislative programs. Stylistic analysis and evaluation of architectural quality may be subdivided as follows. An initial group of six buildings shows outstanding architectural qualities; Columbus, Leland, ~~inona and Lumberton exemplify the Colonial Revival Style. They share such features as hipped or gabled roofs with cupolas, brickwork articulated by such details as quoins, classically inspired wooden and limestone cornices, and by other limestone elements such as belt courses and water tables, decorative window lintels, and especially entry way elements ranging from frontispieces to retilinear and curvilinear, projecting porticoes. The Columbia structure, on the other hand, is a lone--but excel­ lent--example of Beaux Arts Classicism 'within the group. Finally the Carthage site co~­ bines Colonial Revival and Style Moderne qualities with an exceptional result, and at Hattiesburg a truly extraordinary Style Moderne structure was built including exceptional interior and exterior lighting fixtures and interior furniture and wall finishes as we ll as the typically massive, prismatic body of the building itself . .. .~ , '..: . ,. _ ,' J • . ' . ' . "' . " ~ 'm.Nu:'O · JqOJ tfe_ 10··74) UN.lll.IJSIAIl.SDII':\\(1;>..11 t'.l OIIIII . I i'. llIUUI{ FOR NPS USE ONLY NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES DATE ENTERED INVENTOR Y -- NOMl,NATION FORM·_.I.: Descrip.tion of Physical Appearance--Continued (3) CONTI NUATION SHEET ITeM NUMBEfl Pi\G[ A second group of twenty-five buildings represents less extraordinary but stil l ski ll­ fully conceived Colonial Revival Style structures (Lexington and Eupora also show som e Style Moderne qualities). This group may be divided into three sub-groups arranged in order of merit: Amory, Belzoni, Booneville, Crystal Springs, Forest, Hazlehurst, Hou s ­ ton, Magnolia, New Albany, Tylertown; and Cleveland, Durant, Eupora, Kosciusko , Le xing­ ton, Louisville, Newton, Pontotoc, Waynesboro; and Batesville, Bay St. Louis, Charleston, Macon, Picayune, Ripley. These buildings share similar, though less developed features with the first group. A third group shows limited )rchitectura1 merit but displays occasional Colonial Revival Style features. This group includes Indianola, Okolona, Philadelphia, Pop1ar- vi 11 e'. 1 These post office buildings were often designed, according to Karel Vasko, in col­ lective studios or ateliers in Washington, D.C., often under the guidance of well-known practitioners; George Howe, for instance, participated in this unique process which grew out of post-depression attempts by the Federal Government to give work to unemployed architects. Although ma ny of these post offices have architects' names associated with them, even to specific designations on cornerstones, they often cannot be precisely at­ tributed to anyone hand; Mr. Vasko emphasized this point. The same designs were often repeatedly constructed, both in Mississippi and across the country. Names of"architects and builders are shown in the preceding list, but attribution of designer must often si m­ ply be made to the Office of the Supervising Architect. Many of ~he buildings contain mural paintings and sculpture completed under the Department of the Treasury's Section of the Fine Arts Program. These sites and the artists responsible are as follows: Town Artist Art ~/ork Ti t1 e Amory* John ncCrady Amory, ~lississippi--1889 Batesville Eve Kottgon Cotton Plantation Bay St. Louis Louis Raynaud Li~e on the Coast Biloxi Bill of Rights U.S. Constitution Declaration of Independence (documents in a case) *Mura1 painting unless otherwise indicated. 1 Karel Vasko is the Counselor for Fine Arts and Historic Preservation, Public Build­ ings Service, \~ashington, D.C. ~lr. Vasko conducted the Fine P.rts Inventory for the United States which included post offices and post office mural paintings. I1r. Vasko ,. is the country's 1eadi ng authori ty on Pl-IA pos t offi ces and thei r art "'Iork.