Old Post Office - Baltimore MD
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 39° 17.448 W 076° 36.732
18S E 360966 N 4350286
This structure, designed by James A. Wetmore and completed in 1932, is the second post office to occupy this site. Erected at a cost of $3.3 million, the neo-classical building, has marble halls and paneled court-rooms.
Waymark Code: WM13Z18
Location: Maryland, United States
Date Posted: 03/16/2021
Views: 3
This structure, designed by James A. Wetmore and completed in 1932, is the second post office to occupy this site. Erected at a cost of $3.3 million, the neo-classical building, with its marble halls and paneled court-rooms, contained the most modern equipment for handling the mail, but due to an architect's oversight, it lacked mail chutes.
Besides housing the U.S. courts and other federal agencies, the building once included a soundproof pistol range where Treasury agents practiced. An underground tunnel connected the building to the Federal Reserve Bank across the street.
Through the persistent efforts of Jerome Goldfein, Real Estate Officer for Baltimore City, the federal government was persuaded to give the building to the City in 1979, provided that it be maintained as an historic landmark.
The first post office on this side, completed in 1889, was in the Italian Renaissance style, with a mansard roof and nine decorative towers (below). During the Great Fire of 1904, postal employees withstood immense heat to save the building by dousing its windows with buckets of water.
Group that erected the marker: City of Baltimore, William Donald Schaefer, Mayor.
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link]
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
111 N Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD United States
21202
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