National Register visit 201: Beverly Hills Post Office📍9390 N Santa Monica Blvd, Beverly Hills
For a Depression-era federal building, the Beverly Hills Post Office was an unusually opulent one. And the city had to fight hard for the funding to build it - honorary BH mayor Will Rogers, one of the country’s biggest celebrities at the time, even sent a snarky letter to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, in hopes of shaking loose an additional $250,000.
The lobbying worked (quite literally - the lobby here is awash in three kinds of marble). In 1933 Ralph Flewelling’s picturesque Italian Renaissance revival building was completed, clad in handsome brick and terracotta. The opening ceremony the following year still stands as one of the largest civic events that Beverly Hills has ever held.
The post office had a 60+ year run, but as Beverly Hills’ population grew, so too did its postal service needs. The USPS sold the building to the City of Beverly Hills in the late ‘90s. In 2013 it reopened as The Wallis, a world-class performing arts center. Architecture firm SPFA restored the original building and added a brand new theater wing, sheathed in copper-colored concrete shapes meant to evoke postal envelopes.
I’m visiting all the LA landmarks on the National Register of Historic Places. Read about the ones and many more at Etandoesla.com: etandoesla.com...
Historic Photo Credits:
📷1 & 2: LA Public Library
📷3 (mailroom): UCLA Library
📷4 & 5 (lobby): California State Library
📷6 & 7 (opening ceremony): UCLA Library
📷8 & 9 (women in mailbags): LA Public Library
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