Bold and monolithic, the Springfield Post Office is the landmark building of Limestone Street. Strikingly unusual in design, the golden-buff colored building has some of the most perplexing decorative elements of any building in the city.
It was designed in the early 1930’s by Springfield architect William K. Shilling, who also designed the Clark County Courthouse. Shilling’s Post Office replaced the city’s previous Post Office with an ultra-modern, intricately designed Art Deco building. With its soft-hued pink granite base and rich sandstone walls, the Springfield Post Office is an eye-catching gem of architecture.
In addition to the unusual color of the Post Office, the pair of eighteen-foot stone-cut eagles perched atop the corners of the building invokes a spirit of American majesty to the city’s center of correspondence.
The finer artistic details of the structure reveal themselves more subtly. Above the recessed doors of the tripartite entrance are three beautiful satin-finish aluminum relief panels: the northernmost interprets the seal for the state of Ohio; the central relief symbolizes the federal government; and the southernmost represents the city of Springfield. Together these panels symbolize the scale and context of the United States Postal System. In addition, high above the relief panels are carved-stone depictions of a ship, a plane, and a train, all of which represent the ways in which mail is transported in the United States.
Although Art Deco design fell out of fashion in the late 1930’s, the Springfield Post Office, with its stalwart appearance and finely-wrought decorative artwork, continues to summon a kind of timeless awe in citizens and visitors alike.
