United States Post Office and Court House

About this property

The United States Post Office and Court House is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky located in Lexington, Kentucky. Built in 1934, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The passage of the Public Buildings Act of 1926 instigated a period of building construction that was unprecedented in the United States, including the United States Post Office and Court House in Lexington. The office of the Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury, which was responsible for the design of federal buildings in this era, sought employ private architectural firms to ameliorate the effects of the Great Depression on that trade. The Lexington federal building was designed by H.A. Churchill and John T. Gillig and completed in 1934. Many of the federal buildings of this period exhibit streamlined, almost austere, finishes and features; therefore, it is generally believed that Louis Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury, exerted a great deal of control over the design. The building was constructed as a post office, courthouse and federal office building. When the U.S. Post Office moved out, many of the spaces, especially on the 1st floor and lobby area were significantly changed. The four-story, limestone Classical Revival federal building sits on a granite base. The primary (south) elevation has the concentrated enrichment. This elevation consists of a horizontal balustrade with simple Tuscan capitals and an unenriched entablature, flanked by two monumental pavilions. The pavilions terminate the composition of the south elevation and consist of two 4' diameter, two-story high Doric columns in limestone. The columns rests upon the first floor limestone base, and support an entablature. The dual fluted columns support an enriched entablature consisting of triglyphs interrupted by two stone rosettes, one above each column. This detailing is duplicated at each of the two pavilions. The fourth floor is concealed behind the entablature and cornice. The rear (north) elevation is secondary to the front and side elevations. The plan is typical of many post offices and courthouses of the time. The first floor covers the entire footprint and the upper floors are raised above the first floor in a B plan, where the primary elevation is the front of the B. The three wings which bridge from the front to the back are the east wing; the main ceremonial courtroom, Courtroom A, in the center; and the west wing. This plan results in two interior light courts which serve the interior offices and Courtroom A. The north elevation is the location of the loading dock and, at the northeast corner, the current entry door for the public to the postal sales area of the first floor.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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