P. Jeanne Myers, Assistant Professor, University of Memphis
Proposal Type: Structured Conversation
Abstract: The building currently housing the Ceil C. Humphreys School of Law at the University of Memphis was originally built to house the Federal Courthouse, Customs House and Post Office for the city of Memphis in the 1880’s. In the ensuing years, additions were made as needs increased with the population of the area. The size of the building was almost doubled in 1904 with an addition to the rear of the building. This addition contained primarily offices and a larger mail sorting floor. In 1929 the building area was almost doubled and the façade was altered completely. The building’s two towers, on the north and south side were removed as office wings were added in their stead and approximately 10 feet was added to the front façade; changing the building shape from a “B” to an “E”. While the mass of the building was unchanged from 1929 until 2007; when the building was purchased by the State of Tennessee; the interiors and finishes were altered to suit the changing needs of the federal tenants. Surprisingly the building retained many of the original features although many had been covered through the years for personal taste, privacy or energy conservation.
Over the 100+ years of its existence the building was maintained as a public building, however a large portion of the building was unused, with only a few departments were still using space in the building at the time it was purchased by the state of Tennessee and less than 2% of the building was accessible to the general public. The project to transform this Federal Building into a School of Law, not only included the adaptive reuse of the facility, but to seismically retrofit the structure and bring it up to current codes. Many of the buildings impressive features had not been seen by the general public in decades and the visible portions of the original 1880’s building had been hidden from public view since the 1929 addition.
I seek to share the story of the facility; its history, interesting architecture features and lessons learned throughout the adaptive reuse project. Some of the lessons learned have been shared with a local audience by the design team during building tours and a multitude of lectures; however these are lessons that can be applicable to many historic structures.
Seeking: The Unites States Post Office (USPS) over the past several years have sold off several historic post offices, partially as a solution to a serious revenue problem facing the organization. Some of these sales have brought about protests from members of the community. In January, Congress proposed a delay in the sales of historic post offices pending reports from the Inspector General and the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). I am interesting in a working group to discuss the pros and cons of selling historic post offices.
I am looking for others that have worked on/with post office buildings, as well as those with opinions for/against the selling of post offices. I would like to have other examples of renovated post offices and what the rehabilitation has done for the building as well as the community. I would also like to hear from others where the historic post office was demolished after being sold by the federal government.
Related Topics: Preservation, Civic Engagement, Place
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: P. Jeanne Myers, jmyers2[at]memphis.edu
If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.
In Nashville, the Frist Museum http://www.fristcenter.org is housed in an old post office. Relating to the proposed closures of post offices, the post office in the Arcade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nashville_Arcade in Nashville faced closure, but local pushback – both because of its convenient location, but also because of the historic nature of this post office and the Arcade – kept it open. I’m not sure who might be the best person to talk to about that, but you might start with the Postmaster of the Arcade P.O. or perhaps Congressman Jim Cooper, who also helped in this regard.
Thanks Linda,
I am familiar with the Frist, as I grew up in the area and was interning for the Nashville Historic Commission around the time the PO was turned over. I appreciate the reminder and the suggestions for contacts.