The main facade of the Farley Building (over 8th Avenue) features a Corinthian colonnade finishing at a pavilion on each end.

An entablature above the colonnade bears the United States Postal Service creed: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

The colonnade's inner ceiling is decorated with the crests or emblems of ten major nations that existed at the building's completion.

The building was made a New York City designated landmark in 1966 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The building fronts on the west side of Eighth Avenue, across from Pennsylvania Station and Madison Square Garden.

[1]: 2 An entablature above the colonnade bears the inscription "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds".

[11] At the tops of the end pavilions, names of various figures have been carved, such as Cardinal Richelieu, who were deemed important to the history of postal delivery in the Western world.

[17] The main floor, 22 feet (6.7 m) above ground level, is surrounded by a dry moat, providing light and air to workspaces below.

[6] The moats ran along 31st and 33rd Streets and along the corners at Eighth Avenue; they originally featured glass skylights overlooking the tracks.

In 2017, the former moats became entrances to the West End Concourse of Moynihan Train Hall, underneath the Farley Building.

for République Française at the time of the Farley Building's opening, as the republic lacked an official national emblem.

These include a ticketing and baggage area, a waiting lounge, conference spaces, and a balcony 20 ft (6.1 m) above the hall.

[31] The U.S. government took title to the site in January 1907, with an easement for the PRR allowing trains to use the tracks and platforms underneath.

[34] Supervisory architect James Knox Taylor selected McKim, Mead & White for the post office the same year.

The Times described it as the second largest building in the city behind the original Penn Station and Grand Central Terminal, the post office incorporating some 165,000 cubic feet (4,700 m3) of pink granite, 18,000 tons of steel, and 7 million bricks.

[47] The U.S. government announced its intention, in 1927, to buy the plot immediately west of the existing post office building.

[15] The federal government awarded a $4.3 million construction contract to James Stewart & Co. in February 1934 after having unsuccessfully advertised for bids on three occasions over the previous years.

[58] The building was made a New York City designated landmark in 1966[6] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

[8][59] Known for being the supreme Democratic Party boss of New York State,[60] Farley was responsible for Franklin D. Roosevelt's rise to the U.S.

[61] In the early 1990s, U.S. senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan began to champion a plan to rebuild a replica of the historic Penn Station, in which he had shined shoes during the Great Depression.

[18]: 20 The Farley Building was instrumental to maintaining service levels in the New York metropolitan area following the September 11 attacks in 2001, when it served as a backup to operations for the Church Street Station Post Office opposite the World Trade Center complex.

[64][65] The Farley Post Office building was sold to the New York state government in 2006 in the hope that Moynihan's vision would be realized.

[70][71] The Moynihan Station Development Corporation awarded a contract to Skylight in September 2012, allowing the latter group to use the building's sorting room and loading area for events.

[74][75] The first phase, consisting of new exits, a connection to the New York City Subway at 34th Street and Eighth Avenue, and an expanded concourse within the James Farley Post Office, started on October 18, 2010.

[81] As part of the Moynihan redevelopment, The Related Companies and Vornado Realty Trust were selected to develop the building's retail space.

[83][84] In early 2018, Vornado and Related started considering plans to convert the Farley Building's remaining space that was not being used by the train hall.

[85] In August 2020, Meta Platforms signed a lease for all 730,000 square feet (68,000 m2) of the office space in the Farley Building, following a similar acquisition the company had made at nearby Hudson Yards the previous year.