now Polk County Heritage Gallery
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United States Post Office Building (now Polk County Heritage Gallery)
1908, James Knox Taylor. Southeast corner of 2nd Ave. and Walnut St.
The Beaux-Arts appears here at its best. Four corner pavilions contain among them a centerpiece composed of a repeated pattern of Corinthian pilasters. Between each pair of these pilasters is a large arched main-floor window, and above, hugging the lower line of the entablature, is a horizontal pattern of three windows. A light gray limestone has lent itself well to the fine carving of ornament and the tactile vertical tooling of the surfaces. The high vaulted lobby of the public space runs across the entire front of the building. The two entrances, their vestibules, and the public space were extensively restored in 1980, and the space is now used as the Polk County Heritage Gallery. The interior has been opened up to the Polk County Office Building (1979) to the rear so that one can walk through one building to the other.
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