61 Pleasant Street

History

This parcel of land was acquired by the United States government in 1919. The building was begun in 1927 and opened in 1928. The building has been used as the United States Post Office until today.

This building is Newburyport's first permanent Post Office, built to replace various rented quarters. A large brick Georgian residence and several other smaller 18th and 19th-century wooden buildings formerly occupied the site. A modest but accomplished example of 20th-century Georgian Revival, the structure appears on the exterior much as it did when completed early in the summer of 1928. The lobby has been slightly altered.

Built of brick in a simplified version of the Georgian Revival Style popular in the 1920s, the building features three large marble-trimmed arched openings with a Palladian Motif centered on the principal English bond brick facade. Seven granite steps with brass pipe railings create the primary approach. Low wing walls, brick with a marble cap, frame the stairs; on top are cast-iron lampposts. Slightly recessed flanking wings contain single rectangular windows with metal grill panels above in a Greek key pattern, a feature common to the remainder of the fenestration. The more prominent features are a marble belt course, brick quoins, a marble cornice on the main block, and a brick parapet insert with marble balustraded panels corresponding to the three arched openings. The main block is capped by a steeply pitched hip roof covered in slate; the remainder of the top is flat.