90 Church Street

90 Church Street (U.S. Post Office – Church Street Station)
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
90 Church Street in 2006
Location	90 Church Street Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates	40°42′45″N 74°0′40″W
Built	1934–35
Architect	Cross and Cross Pennington, Lewis & Mills Lewis A. Simon (Superv. Arch. of the Treasury)
Architectural style	Classical Revival and Art Deco
MPS	US Post Offices in New York State, 1858-1943, TR
NRHP reference No.	88002359 [1]
Added to NRHP	May 11, 1989

Entrance hall

90 Church Street is a federal office building in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The building houses the United States Postal Service's Church Street Station, which is responsible for the 10007 ZIP code. The building takes up a full block between Church Street and West Broadway and between Vesey and Barclay Streets.

History

90 Church Street was designed by Cross & Cross, Pennington, Lewis & Mills and Louis A. Simon, who was Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury at the time. The architectural style of the building is a mixture of Neo-classicism and Art Deco. It has two towers and the facade is clad in limestone. The AIA Guide to New York City described the building as "a boring limestone monolith that has trouble deciding between a heritage of stripped down neo-Classical and a new breath of Art Deco."^[2]

The building was completed in 1935.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.^[3][4] The building was extensively renovated by Boston Properties, Inc from the early 1990s though 2000 by Architects Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and Brannen Associates.^[5]

In addition to housing the Postal Service, the 90 Church Street building contains offices of the New York State Public Service Commission, the New York State Health Department, and the New York City Housing Authority.^[4]

September 11 attacks

The building suffered moderate damage during the September 11 attacks due to a remnant of one of the planes and other debris landing on top of the building. Following the collapse of the World Trade Centers twin towers, the building's facade was damaged, windows were broken, the roof was seriously burned and major water damage occurred throughout the internal structure. It was also extensively contaminated with asbestos, lead dust, fungi, fiberglass dust, mercury, and bacteria.^[4] The building was entirely engulfed by dust after the collapse of both buildings, respectively, and was further damaged when Building 7 collapsed later the same day. There was no major structural damage.^[6] During recovery efforts at Ground Zero, the United States Postal Service worked to return individual pieces of mail found by rescue workers to the addressees.^[7] In August 2004, the Church Street Station Post Office reopened, and mail was once again being processed there.^[8] Church Street Station also serves the 10007 ZIP code, covering portions of Battery Park City, Tribeca, and Civic Center.

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 15, 2006.
2. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot; Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 72, 74. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.
3. Gobrecht, Larry E. (November 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Church Street Station Post Office". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Retrieved October 1, 2010. See also: "Accompanying nine photos".
4. Dunlap, David W. (August 19, 2004). "Post Office, Polluted on Sept. 11, Is Back in Business". The New York Times.
5. Barbanel, Josh (September 10, 2003). "COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: REGIONAL MARKET -- Manhattan; Wrangling Over a Cleanup at 90 Church Street". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
6. FEMA (May 2002). "Chapter 7, Peripheral Buildings". World Trade Center Building Performance Study (PDF).
7. "Letter to customers explaining recovered 9/11 mail". National Postal Museum.
8. Barr, Meghan (December 4, 2006). "Mail Still Being Sent to Trade Center". Associated Press.

External links

• Media related to 90 Church Street, Manhattan at Wikimedia Commons