In the 1930's, the "New Deal" was good to Allentown. As I noted on earlier posts, our park system was enriched by monumental stone construction under the WPA. We also received one of the architectural gems of our area, the magnificent art deco post office. Constructed during 1933-34, no detail was spared in making the lobby an ageless classic. The floor is adorned with handmade Mercer tiles from Doylestown. Muralist Gifford Reynolds Beal worked thru 1939 portraying the Valley's cultural and industrial history. This incredible 74 year old photograph is the contractor's documentation of the project's progress. The back of the photo states; Taken Sept 1 - 34 showing lobby, floor, screens, desks, completed & fixtures hung
photograph will enlarge when clicked.
Reprinted from Jan.15, 2010
Reprinted from Jan.15, 2010
ADDENDUM SEPTEMBER 28, 2022: While the NIZ-fueled new construction on Hamilton Street surges ahead, our architectural history continues to be destroyed. There is no more pathetic example of this than the magificant Art Deco post office languishing for sale. The irreplaceable front entrance lanterns on the eastern end of the building have vanished.
The new NIZ construction continues, because our state tax dollars are used to finance the private owner's mortgage (almost all the new buildings are owned by one man). However, the language and greed of the NIZ concentrates on new construction, not on the older buildings. That iconic post office masterpiece remaining in limbo this long is a stain on Allentown. Any pretense of museums, art, and culture are exposed as hollow jokes, as long as that For Sale sign on the post office remains, and its treasures disappear.
ADDENDUM AUGUST 19, 2024:Nothing has changed since the above addendum in 2022, but I think even less of Allentown's art and culture community. They have succumbed to virtue signaling, now having shows featuring Black, Latino or Gay artists, as opposed to art which is blind to such irrelevant quotas.
Mike, throughout history the visual Arts have, with a few notable exceptions, reflected the tastes, values, and beliefs of society's elites. It is such now and hence woke permeates every show, hanging, and exhibition. More often than not, people attend these affairs to be seen rather than to regard "The Art". I seriously doubt these people really like woke Art as it is often judged on political appropriateness rather than for its quality or intrinsic value. As to be expected, attendance drops to a trickle when the galas end.
ReplyDeleteMike, I will add that the theater,film, and classical music have also taken up the woke cloak of protection. Additionally the Arts in general have, over the last seventy years become disconnected from the general public and beauty. Perhaps woke is the final nail in the coffin. We can only hope,that sometime in the future, the Phoenix will rise from the ashes.
ReplyDeleteI believe the Post Office building is owned by the federal government. Its likely fate is to be purchased by City Center from the government, and its subsequent fate is to be determined by Reilly. That may take some time as Reilly has owned the old Merchants Bank building and announced his plans for it a few year ago. Those have not yet materialized.
ReplyDeleteWokism is a cancer on our society inflicted by the current political climate, a different matter.
The merchants building has been undergoing inside demo for months. Just wrapped uo. Now shell. We should soon see what is next. The Archer looks great and I am far from NIZ proponent.
DeleteIt must be a responsibility of the NIZ Board to target problem properties/buildings in its zone for special attention by rehabilitation and/or adaptive reuse. Merely processing the next teardown deal that walks through the door is to miss the NIZ opportunity and to defile the art of architecture. The NIZ should be marketing this building along with other problems to developers with all the means at their disposal and maybe a few extras in light of a building's significance. Skimming off the cream has been easy, now do something hard. Failing to save the Allentown Post Office building while the most lucrative ever State largess is at their disposal would be to fail at improving the very neighborhood they've designated as their improvement zone. It's a shame what Allentown's has already lost. You don't have to demolish everything.
ReplyDeleteThe post office building may be iconic and have many interesting architectural features. However, in terms of reuse, it's a white elephant.
DeleteThe building itself was designed by the Post Office Department in the late 1920s to be one thing. A post office. What else could it be? Well Allentown went through this once before after this post office opened in 1934. What should happen to the "old" post office at 6th and Turner Streets? It was a beautiful, iconic building, like the current one today at 5th and Hamilton. Allentown outgrew it then, this is why the current one was built.
What happened then is that lots of ideas were floated around about it. Every one of them failed to come about for one reason or another, all dealing with the cost of renovations, parking issues, and should it have a civic use or used by private interests. The Federal Government, who owned it, couldn't find a buyer for it and eventually the city bought it. The city couldn't find anyone who would buy it and eventually after World War II ended, Park & Shop bought it. Not for the building, but for the land to create another parking lot.
It's still a parking deck today.
I'm not sure what the future holds for the current post office. However I'm pretty sure it will involve a wrecking ball.
Anon 9:19 said: “Merely processing the next teardown deal that walks through the door is to miss the NIZ opportunity and to defile the art of architecture.”
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:19: What you describe is the result of the NIZ being mismanaged from the start. The NIZ board, city planners, and elected city officials long ago decided to accept whatever is proposed instead of demanding more and creating something special.
So what we got were cookie cutter office buildings and apartments that look like European public housing clad in whatever was left over from the previous project. Which means that once the newness has worn off Allentown’s buildings, we will have drab, dated buildings with nothing left that is architecturally significant. Contrast that with Bethlehem, which worked to be preservation-friendly and expected anything new to fit the character and charm of its historic architecture.
I would call that lack of vision in Allentown the biggest missed opportunity (for government) in the last 75 years. It is exactly what you get when your elected officials have ZERO vision and expect nothing beyond the bare minimum from ANYONE.
I agree with the above comment, but I'll go farther. The NIZ is a legal real estate scam against the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. Worse, the highly overrated governor is so clueless that he rewarded the architect of the scam with a cabinet position.
Delete"The NIZ board, city planners, and elected city officials long ago decided to accept whatever is proposed instead of demanding more and creating something special."
DeleteThis sounds exactly like my critique of the Northridge project at the old State Hospital. JB Reilly's engineers drew up a generic suburban sprawl style apartment building/medical office dominated plan that looks like something right out of the old Eastern Block/USSR. The city staff and elected officials just accepted the design carte blanche without any guidance from a professional planner. In fact some of them are enthusiastic about it!!
I’m looking forward to the REAL math behind the NIZ scam. That’s due out sometime this month, I think. No doubt, the Morning Call will ignore it.
Delete