Constructed in 1857, the Belfast Post Office is a large two story brick building with a large overhanging dentilled cornice. A matching dentilled brick beltline runs around the building between the two storys. All windows and doors are arched at the top with wooden hoods over. The façade of the building has an extended portice with a wide balcony across its width. Approaching its 159th birthday, the building is in excellent condition. The second floor is no longer used by the post office and is presently rented to the Belfast Bay Shade Company. The building is at 1 Franklin Street in Belfast.
In September of 2015 a bit of renovation was taking place on the upper floor of the post office when a bit of a mishap occurred, causing some damage to the first floor ceiling of the post office. It seems that a safe was being moved when it slipped and fell, damaging the floor below and the ceiling below the floor. The Bangor Daily News, Johnny on the spot, reported the incident, doubtless to the embarrassment of the contractor, on September 17, 2015. The story can be read further below.
Below is an excerpt on Belfast from the American Guide Series book,
Maine, A Guide 'Down East'.
BELFAST (alt. 160, pop. 4993), 79.3 m., a popular tourist center and
seat of Waldo County, has parallel streets that follow a rolling terrain, which rises in a majestic sweep from the banks of the Passagassawakeag. Its highest points command a view over the island-sprinkled waters of Penobscot Bay.
The town was named for Belfast, Ireland, by a group of Scotch-Irish
settlers who came to the place in 1770, after having tried settlement at Londonderry, N.H. Belfast was harassed by the British in 1779 and its settlers were driven away, but they successfully re-established themselves five years later. The city reached its peak of population in 1860 with 5520 inhabitants, but has since achieved prosperity by catering to the many summer residents and visitors.
Reminiscent of an earlier prosperity are the many fine old houses, whose chief interest lies in their variation on the standard eighteenth-century architecture.
From Maine, A Guide 'Down East'
Lobby of Belfast post office, lampshade business
closed after safe damages ceiling
By Abigail Curtis, BDN Staff
Posted Sept. 17, 2015, at 3:56 p.m.
BELFAST, Maine — A section of the U.S. Post Office lobby has been temporarily closed off and a small business has been shut down after a heavy safe being removed from the second floor of the building slipped Wednesday and caused damage to the lobby ceiling.
Post office customers craned their necks Thursday afternoon to look past the caution tape to the ornate safe that completely blocked the stairway to the second floor of the building, which is owned by the U.S. Postal Service. The safe apparently came from the old U.S. Customs House, which was located on the second floor of the building when it was constructed in 1857. A newer occupant is the Belfast Bay Shade Company, where artist and designer Dina Petrillo creates hand-printed botanical fabric, lampshades and artisan lighting with her husband, electrician Ryan Herz, and another employee.
Petrillo and her employee were trapped upstairs Wednesday afternoon when the safe slipped. They left the building by a window and waited on the roof for a truck from the Belfast Fire Department to arrive and get them down to the ground.
“We’re shut down, as long as this has happened. They’re not sure when we’ll be able to get back in,” she said. “For us, from a business standpoint, it’s disastrous.”
Petrillo said she spent the day on Thursday calling customers and canceling appointments. She said that while Belfast Postmaster Dave Cook has been extremely helpful in terms of trying to deal with the situation, so far it is unclear when Petrillo and Herz can access their company again.
“[Cook’s] been really proactive in terms of trying to deal with this and get some answers, but they truly have no answers,” she said. “I think this is unprecedented.”
Postal customers, while they won’t be able to access 700 post office boxes in the lobby for the time being, will be able to get their mail. Structural engineers have been on site and deemed the facility safe, but part of the lobby will be closed off while contractors work above it to make repairs, according to a press release issued Thursday afternoon by Steve Doherty of corporate communications for the U.S. Postal Service’s northeast area.
No timetable was given for when the lobby at the 1 Franklin St. facility would be reopened. Mail delivery to street addresses won’t be affected, according to Doherty.
From the Bangor Daily News