U.S. Post Office, Federal Building
You are here
Wesley Church Educational Center (U.S. Post Office, Federal Building)
1931–1933, Massena and du Pont, with James A. Wetmore. Federal and E. Loockerman sts.
-
Wesley Church Educational Center (Delaware Postcard Collection, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Del)
Architect Alfred Victor du Pont was repeatedly frustrated in trying to get commissions for state projects, because, he thought, Pierre S. du Pont held an old grudge against his father, A. I. du Pont. This federal commission was highly welcome. The limestone portico consists of two big columns copied from the Tower of the Winds in Athens, Greece (50 BC), set in antis beneath a pediment. The walls are of Williamsburg-type bricks with limestone quoins, under a hipped roof with widow's walk and cupola. Inside is a work-relief mural by a Wilmington artist, Harvest Spring and Summer (1936, William D. White). The building was too small for its purpose and was supplanted in 1962 by the Colonial Revival post office nearby, which resembles a motel—the contrast demonstrating a striking postwar decline in the quality of public architecture.
Writing Credits
×
Data
-
Location: Dover, DelawareRegional Overviews:Architect:Styles:Materials:
What's Nearby
Citation
W. Barksdale Maynard, "Wesley Church Educational Center (U.S. Post Office, Federal Building)", [Dover, Delaware], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/DE-01-DV12.
Print Source
Buildings of Delaware, W. Barksdale Maynard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2008, 252-253.
If SAH Archipedia has been useful to you, please consider supporting it.
SAH Archipedia tells the story of the United States through its buildings, landscapes, and cities. This freely available resource empowers the public with authoritative knowledge that deepens their understanding and appreciation of the built environment. But the Society of Architectural Historians, which created SAH Archipedia with University of Virginia Press, needs your support to maintain the high-caliber research, writing, photography, cartography, editing, design, and programming that make SAH Archipedia a trusted online resource available to all who value the history of place, heritage tourism, and learning.