Long Beach Post Office: Another Art Moderne Monolith

For as long as human beings have had the means and opportunity to build things for purposes beyond mere shelter and survival, we’ve been building to impress. At Stonehenge, Sacsayhuamán, Cahokia, Sri Ranganathaswamy — across the inhabited planet — individuals who themselves lived in mere mud, wattle or adobe huts constructed vast temples, palaces and monuments (perhaps not always of their own free will). It’s ingrained in all cultures: Important things should be massive, towering, impressive. Important things should look important.

Religions and powerful leaders build awe-inspiring temples, vast palaces. “Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair,” said Shelley’s Ozymandias (although with trenchant irony). As states emerged, distinct from individual rulers of wealth and influence, they adopted the same architectural ethos, and government buildings everywhere loom above us citizens — presumably to reassure us. Interestingly, even postal offices are often cavernous, palatial structures. That’s true of the U.S. Post Office and Federal Building in Long Beach, California:

Completed in 1934, the building was under construction when a 6.4 magnitude earthquake destroyed or damaged hundreds of buildings in Long Beach and Southern California in 1933, but the project suffered only a minor interruption before work continued.

The building’s appropriately imposing, although somewhat austere, its decoration limited to fluted columns and a restrained degree of embellishment along the cornices and capitals.

Although the style is most commonly referred to as “PWA Moderne” (Public Works Administration), another delightful term is “starved classicism.” As you may have surmised, the project was carried out under the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.

“Austere” is also a word that suits the interior.

While innumerable PWA/WPA projects are decorated with murals, sculpture, mosaics and frescoes sponsored by the PWA Federal Art Project, for some reason the Long Beach building has none.

There are terrazzo floors and marble wainscoting beneath plain plastered walls and modestly ornate ceiling moulding, which — by my count — is comprised of between eight and 11 elements.

There is some wrought iron on railings around the otherwise rather severe stairways.

Here are some other interior details, including a steam radiator and the ubiquitous bronze metal mailboxes. Click on an image for a larger view.

Dedicated students of architecture likely can draw some relationships between the streamlined styles of the ’30s, Bauhaus and International modes, leading to the modernists and Brutalists of the post-War era. Form doesn’t follow only fashion, though, but budget, as well. The subdued detailing of this building’s masonry exterior and the plainly outfitted interior may reflect the straitened circumstances of an economy that generated barely enough wealth to keep the population fed and clothed.

The PWA produced thousands of public works, some of them quite extensive and even elaborate, but the focus was on providing employment for workers. The fact that the buildings, bridges and other works all displayed a style consistent enough to be typified as “PWA Moderne” bespeaks a significant effort at the top of the bureaucracy’s pyramid, where things must have been incredibly busy. It’s no surprise that a large, ambitious structure like the Long Beach post office is rather workaday in appearance.

The real testament to the designers, engineers and work crews is that it’s not only still standing, 85 years on, but that one can stand at the same window to buy stamps or mail a package*, because the post office still operates from there.

Visiting the Long Beach Post Office and Federal Building

The building’s in downtown at 300 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, California. Long Beach is reachable by Interstate 710, among other auto routes, but is also well served by the LA Metro light rail Blue Line, which travels on Long Beach Blvd.

*The price of postage has increased since 1934.

Photographs in this post and select images from other Under Western Skies posts are available on Shutterstock.com. Click on the linked photos, or CLICK HERE to view the Underawesternsky photo portfolio.

© Brad Nixon 2018