It was built during the Great Depression as part of a massive statewide public works initiative to stimulate the economy and provide jobs.

Louis Simon, supervising architect for the Treasury Department, used a stripped-down Classical Revival style for the post office, which replaced a much-beloved older one.

At the end bays the frieze is decorated with abstract stars and stripes with winged shields at the corners, where the stone surface beneath them changes from ashlar to rusticated.

The Broadway frieze has the words "UNITED STATES POST OFFICE", reflecting the main entrance located underneath it.

[1] The north and east (William Street) facades are faced in buff-colored brick laid in common bond, with limestone coping.

The plaster walls are divided into four recessed bays flanked by marble pilasters, rising to a ceiling cornice with classical detailing.

It was opened in 1894; the granite Romanesque Revival-style building's clock tower became one of the city's most enduring landmarks, dominating the downtown skyline.

[1] In 1931, as the Great Depression was beginning, an amendment to the Public Buildings Act of 1926 authorized 136 separate postal construction projects to relieve growing unemployment.

In more recent years, an interior fire escape was added to the northwest corner, and one of the original teller bays was converted into a self-service section.