James Farley Post Office
This enormous post office is open 24 hours a day. The building is a national historic landmark, and occupies two full city blocks, an eight-acre footprint straddling the Northeast Rail Corridor in the heart of New York's Midtown. The Farley Post Office was constructed in two stages. The original monumental front half was built in 1912 and opened for postal business in 1914; the building was doubled in 1934 where it backs up to Ninth Avenue: along the side streets, McKim, Mead, and White's range, which continues its Corinthian giant order as pilasters between the window bays, was simply repeated in order to carry the facade to Ninth Avenue. The monumental facade on Eighth Avenue was conceived as a Corinthian colonnade braced at the end by two pavilions. The imposing design was meant to match in strength the colonnade of Pennsylvania Station (McKim, Mead, and White, 1910) that originally faced it across the avenue. Upon opening in 1914 it was named the Pennsylvania Terminal. In July 1918, the building was renamed the General Post Office, and in 1982, renamed once more as the James A. Farley Building. James Farley was the 53rd Postmaster General and served from 1933 to 1940. He died in 1976.
Address: 21 Eighth Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets | 
