Phoebus Post Office, Hampton, Virginia.
Interior, photographed May 31, 2017. Unlike most 1930s Post Offices, this
one's interior is virtually unchanged since it it was built. The woodwork,
the
vestibule, the glass-cased wood-frame
bulletin boards, the marble wainscotting and trim, and the Depression-era
mural
Chesapeake Fishermen by William H. Calfee[1,2]. It's like
going back in time.
References
- William H. Calfee Foundation.
“During the Great
Depression he produced murals for the Fine Arts Section of the Department of
the Interior. The murals can be found today in a number of post offices in
Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware.”
- Smithsonian Institution,
William H. Calfee papers, 1937-1982: ”Painter, sculptor;
Washington, D.C. area. Calfee worked on WPA mural projects for post offices
in the 1930s. He was chair of the art dept. at American University,
1945-1954.”
- Raynor, Patricia, New
Deal Post Office Murals, Off The Wall Volume 6, Issue 4,
October-December 1997, Smithsonian
National Postal Museum.
Photos by George and Connie Gilmer, taken May-August 2017.
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