Post Card of Open Air Post Office (click on picture for larger image)
St. Petersburg has a very unique and beautiful post office in the heart of downtown. It’s known as the Open Air Post Office because, as you can see in this late 1940′s or early 1950′s era postcard, the main areas of the post office are not enclosed. If you were to walk through the arches that you see, you’d be in the area of hundreds of post office boxes, as well as mail drops. Our Open Air Post Office is located at the southwest corner of Fourth Street North and First Avenue north, diagonally across the street from Williams Park.
This post office was completed and opened for business in September of 1917, so we are just a few years away from its centennial celebration! And, interestingly enough, this was not the first open air post office in St. Petersburg. Prior to the opening of this facility, there was a much smaller open air post office a block away. That one was built in 1907, on the northeast corner of Central Avenue and Fourth Street. But our growing city quickly outgrew that building, and in 1915, the post office had to move temporarily to the first floor of the City Hall of that day, located on Fourth Street South. That same year, a congressional appropriation of $102,000 was granted for the construction of a new, large, full service post office that would be able to serve the needs of the city for years to come.
Although initial plans drawn up for the post office involved a building built several feet above street level, with lots of steps leading up to it, our local Postmaster didn’t like those plans, and he worked to design a building at street level, with no steps, and one that was open on all sides and would allow postal patrons to have access to their post office boxes 24 hours a day. The result of his plans is history – a gorgeous Mediterranean Revival building with rich architectural detail and a grand feel to it. And, perhaps more importantly, a structure that has stood the test of time – this building is still operating as an active post office today. In 1975, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
To provide a little comparison, I scanned an old post card of the Open Air Post Office and that’s the picture that you see above. Then, a few days ago, I took my own photo of the building, and that’s the shot you see below. As you can see, it looks pretty much the same! And you might also notice the Snell Arcade/Rutland building – the tall structure just behind the post office – it also stands proud today, as beautiful as ever. This post office is worth a first hand look, so if you have a few minutes sometime and are near downtown St. Petersburg, park your car and walk through it and enjoy feeling a bit of history around you. This is one of those cases where you really can say, “They don’t make ‘em like this any more…
The Open Air Post Office, October 2009 (click on photo for larger image)
Open Air Post Office - Within the Arches (click on photo for larger image)
