Bronxville Post Office

The Bronxville Post Office was built as part of the Works Progress Administration, (WPA) created by President Roosevelt. The WPA was the largest and most diverse of the New Deal programs because of its success in minimizing the effects of mass unemployment caused by the Great Depression.

This post office was designed in 1936 by Eric Kebbon and built in 1937-38. He designed six New York State post offices. This particular building was an example of Colonial Revival architecture, which was an extremely popular style for post offices in the 1920s and 1930s. The exterior features limestone pilasters and brick panels and trim, while the interior lobby is composed of detailed marble, plaster, and terrazzo.

  The artist John Sloan painted the mural that can be found in the lobby. He created this work in 1939 under commission for the Treasury Department’s Section of Fine Arts. The mural was originally on exhibition at the Grand Central Art Galleries, before it was permanently installed in the post office. This mural was an anomaly amongst Sloan’s other works because of its lack of political commentary. Sloan, who was a socialist, usually included reference to the corruptness of New York in his pieces. As a result, this is one of few works that have a light-hearted theme, and is also his only post office mural.

1. Linnsoichi Sunami, Thomas C. “Sloan Ends Work on Mural For New Bronxville Postoffice.” The New York Times, May 14, 1939. https://www.nytimes.com/1939/05/14/archives/sloan-ends-work-on-mural-for-new-bronxville-postoffice-a.html
2. National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records. “New York MPS US Post Office—Bronxville,” November 17, 1988. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315469
3. “Works Progress Administration (WPA) (1935).” Living New Deal, October 20, 2020. https://livingnewdeal.org/glossary/works-progress-administration-wpa-1935/.