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Mullett's Monstrosity

Also The City Hall Post Office and Courthouse

NY

Infrastructure
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1869

Since 1845, the city's main post office was located in the Middle Dutch Church on Nassau Street, a dark 18th-century building that by the 1860s was stretched past its capacity.  After a design competition Alfred P. Mullett was selected to design the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse.

On May 1, 1877, during the building's construction, three workers were killed when a concrete slab collapsed, prompting an investigation by the city and a public rebuttal of accusations of misconduct from Mullett.

1880

Feeling the proposed design was too expensive, Mullett took over the project, which nonetheless cost $8.5 million. This coup may have influenced opinions on his final product. The iron framing was clad with a pale granite quarried in Dix Island, Knox County, Maine.

Regarding the building's lack of popularity, The New York Times wrote in 1912: The Mullett Post Office has always been an architectural eyesore, and has, from the first, been unsatisfactory to the Postal Service and the Federal Courts beneath its roof.  It was known as "Mullett's Monstrosity". 

1939 So universally disliked that before it was demolished in 1939.

1869

Since 1845, the city's main post office was located in the Middle Dutch Church on Nassau Street, a dark 18th-century building that by the 1860s was stretched past its capacity.  After a design competition Alfred P. Mullett was selected to design the City Hall Post Office and Courthouse.

On May 1, 1877, during the building's construction, three workers were killed when a concrete slab collapsed, prompting an investigation by the city and a public rebuttal of accusations of misconduct from Mullett.

1880

Feeling the proposed design was too expensive, Mullett took over the project, which nonetheless cost $8.5 million. This coup may have influenced opinions on his final product. The iron framing was clad with a pale granite quarried in Dix Island, Knox County, Maine.

Regarding the building's lack of popularity, The New York Times wrote in 1912: The Mullett Post Office has always been an architectural eyesore, and has, from the first, been unsatisfactory to the Postal Service and the Federal Courts beneath its roof.  It was known as "Mullett's Monstrosity". 

1939 So universally disliked that before it was demolished in 1939.

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Mullett's Monstrosity

City Hall Park, 43 Park Row, New York City, NY, US 10038

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#Architecture #Infrastructure

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