Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet: U

U.S. Post Office, Eugene (photo by Tamanoeconomico, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

This is the next in my Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series of blog posts, the focus of each being a landmark building here in Eugene. Many of these will be familiar to most who live here but there are likely to be a few buildings that are less so. My selection criteria for each will be threefold:

1. The building must be of architectural interest, local importance, or historically significant.
2. The building must be extant so you or I can visit it in person.
3. Each building’s name will begin with a particular letter of the alphabet, and I must select one (and only one) for each of the twenty-six letters. This is easier said than done for some letters, whereas for other characters there is a surfeit of worthy candidates (so I’ll be discriminating and explain my choice in those instances).

This entry’s selection begins with the letter U, for which my choice is Eugene’s centrally located branch of the U.S. Post Office. As is the case now with several of my entries in the Eugene/Architecture/Alphabet series, I gleaned much of the information that follows from the building’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

U.S. Post Office

I was hardly familiar with Eugene prior to my studies in architecture at the University of Oregon. Upon arriving in September of 1980, I distinctly remember much of Eugene’s architecture underwhelming me, the university campus and a few pre-urban renewal examples downtown notwithstanding. Of the latter, the U.S. Post Office (built 1938-1939) stood out. An example of the classically inspired Federal Art Deco idiom (rare for Oregon and the only one of its kind in Lane County), the building is unique thanks to its symmetry, scale, polychrome terra cotta, and WPA murals. I immediately found the building appealing, and it continues to be among my favorite works of architecture here in my adopted hometown.

I like the fact that, architecturally speaking, the most prominent post office in Eugene is found on the north edge of downtown along Willamette Street. As a true community landmark, the building is sited fittingly on the city’s principal commercial and cultural axis. 

The architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed Eugene’s U.S. Post Office. Underwood is historically important for being responsible for the design of several of the great lodges of the National Parks and National Forests (including Timberline Lodge), stations for the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as more than 20 post offices, courthouses, and other major buildings commissioned under the auspices of the Federal Architects Project. His mastery of both the Rustic Style for the great lodges and the Art Deco style for his Union Pacific Railway stations and federal buildings speaks volumes about his design talent. 

Detail view of the polychromatic terracotta cladding on the Willamette Street façade (photo by Tamanoeconomico - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79242947) 

Art Deco architecture, especially in the context of the New Deal, is fascinating for its unique blend of modernism and classicism, embodying the fundamental optimism of the style. Like many other Art Deco projects, Eugene’s U.S. Post Office possesses flattened ornamentation and clean lines denoting modernity, combined with vaguely Egyptian and Cubist allusions. The building showcases blue and cream-colored terracotta, with black and buff-colored accents. Pilasters separate the multicolored window bays. Overall, the Willamette Street-facing main façade clearly signals its importance as a public institution by means of the scale and Classically symmetrical composition of its architectural features. 

Lobby (photo by Tamanoeconomico - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79242948) 

Inside, the lobby is somewhat cramped with its public service counter, mailboxes, and intrusive vestibule, especially during busy times when many customers must queue up; the tightness is relieved somewhat by its tall ceiling. The oddly random and spare placement of marble wall panels is puzzling, and the overabundance of necessary signage is visually distracting. 

Serving to relieve the lobby’s banality are the two murals painted by Portland artist Carl Morris, one at each end of the space. The murals--titled Agriculture and Lumbering—are a legacy of the United States Department of the Treasury’sprogram to bring outstanding works of art within reach of as many American citizens as possible. The program set aside 1% of the cost of construction of new post office buildings expressly for this purpose. Morris’ murals for the Eugene Post Office are representative of these paintings in that they are “American scenes” depicting ordinary citizens at work. 

Agriculture (1943), mural by Carl Morris, north end of the lobby (photo: public domain) 

Lumbering (1943), mural by Carl Morris, south end of the lobby (photo: public domain) 

Beyond their visual appeal, I’ve always appreciated the cultural significance of New Deal and WPA buildings. They exist as symbols of resilience, reflecting the federal government’s efforts to provide jobs and stimulate the economy during the depths of the Great Depression. They were intended to be monumental and enduring, symbolic of the stability and permanence of important public institutions during an uncertain time. They stand today as exemplars of a distinct and widely admired style of architecture, and as a testament to the broad social and cultural impacts of the sweeping relief, recovery, and reform programs enacted by the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

I’m hopeful Eugene’s one and only example of its architectural type will continue to serve for many years as the city’s downtown branch of the U.S. Post Office. I can’t imagine it assuming another, more suitable role befitting its architecture, one commensurate with its location, prominence, and place within Eugene’s architectural heritage.