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Quincy Main Post Office

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1909, James Knox Taylor, supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury; 1933. 47 Washington St.
  • Quincy Main Post Office (Keith Morgan)
  • (Photograph by Matthew Aungst)

Sited across from H. H. Richardson's Thomas Crane Memorial Library (QU6) and a neighbor to Alexander Parris's United First Parish Church (QU8), the Quincy Main Post Office is a significant Classical Revival civic building. The building's restrained, symmetrical, linear surface treatment; boxy form; and monochromatic Indiana limestone contrasts with the library's polychromatic materials and robust curvilinear ornamentation. James Knox Taylor (1897–1912) designed other Massachusetts post offices, as well, including Chelsea (see CL2; 1910). Taylor advocated the construction of government buildings with high-quality building materials. He achieved monumentality and classical massing by the use of severe plain pilasters and recessed fenestration under a wide entablature with a denticulated cornice.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

Adams Building
United First Parish Church
Thomas Crane Memorial Library
Granite Trust Building
Quincy City Hall

Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Quincy Main Post Office", [Quincy, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-QU7.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 554-554.

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