DESIGNATION AS HISTORICAL BUILDING IN POMPTON LAKES

SITING, BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION, AND RELATED STRUCTURES:
The post office is located in a mixed, residential and commercial neighborhood. It is bounded on the east by late 19th and early 20th century residences; on the south by Lakeside Avenue and the High School; on the north and west by commercial properties.
 

SIGNIFICANCE:

The Pompton Lakes Post Office was designed in 1936 by Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect for the Department of Treasury, 1933-1939, and built in 1937 by Shurman Construction Corporation of Passaic, New Jersey.  While the building was not built as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertakings, it was one of many public buildings constructed during the 1930s.  It is typical of 1930s construction in its materials, symmetrical massing, and historical sources.

Simon's later work included the design of the U.S. Post Office, Bronx, New York, the U.S. Post Office, Madison Square Station, New York, and a group of governmental  structures known as The Triangle  in Washington, D.C.

A portrait of Benjamin Franklin, made of cast stone by the artist Stirling Calder, is located in the lobby of the Pompton Lakes Post Office.  Calder, a student of Thomas Eakins and Thomas Anshutz at the  Pennsylvania Academy, and the father of sculptor Alexander Calder, was instrumental in organizing the sculptural program for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.

The 1920 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Post Office location as the site of the DuPont Club House, which included a pool, bowling alley, bar, and tennis courts at the rear.  By 1929, the Club House had been converted to a garage.

COMMENTS:   The Pompton Lakes Post Office is associated with Pompton Lakes Historic Context C, Suburban Development.   The building meets Criteria C of the New Jersey and National Registers, as it is one of the best examples of public building from the New Deal era within Pompton Lakes.