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On June 24, 1932, Palo Alto received approval to build a post office so different from any other in the nation that it almost didn’t happen.
Rather than following the era’s standard formula of towering columns and imposing facades, Palo Alto’s post office took a different approach, drawing inspiration from the region’s Spanish Colonial Revival architecture.
The reason for the departure lies in federal policy during the Great Depression, when the U.S. Postal Service began hiring local architects instead of developing standardized plans in Washington, D.C. That shift opened the door for Palo Alto architect Birge Clark to design the building at 380 Hamilton Ave.
Clark’s design showcased the hallmarks of the Spanish Colonial Revival style — also known as Early California design — which he helped popularize throughout Palo Alto in the 1920s and 1930s. It featured smooth stucco walls, red clay roof tiles, wrought-iron details and a row of arches stretching along the facade. The building became one of the first federally commissioned post offices in the country to depart dramatically from traditional government architecture.
While the design fit naturally in Palo Alto among the nearly 100 buildings Clark had designed, it seemed a bit too Spanish, or at least too Californian, for officials in Washington, D.C., who tried to nix the unconventional proposal.
According to an account preserved by the Palo Alto History Project and recounted by Clark associate Joseph Ehrlich, Clark traveled to the capital to present his plans to the U.S. Postmaster General, who immediately rejected them.
“Don’t you know what a U.S. post office looks like?” the postmaster reportedly asked after pushing aside Clark’s drawings. “We expect a stately building with neo-Romanesque columns showing the power of the federal government. I cannot approve this design.”
Clark, however, had an influential ally.
Earlier that morning, he had breakfast with the U.S. President Herbert Hoover and First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, longtime Stanford friends who reviewed and approved the design.
“Ok, but I don’t think the President and First Lady are going to be pleased with the design change,” Clark responded.
Faced with presidential backing, the postmaster quickly changed course and approved the plans.
Don’t you know what a U.S. post office looks like? We expect a stately building … I cannot approve this design.
U.S. Postmaster General, 1932
The building became the first post office in Palo Alto designed specifically for postal operations, according to city historians. It was built to serve a city of 30,000 residents — roughly double Palo Alto’s population at the time.
Congress appropriated $210,000 for the project, with about $160,000 allocated for construction and equipment and the remainder used to acquire the site. The structure featured fireproof construction, an open arcade lined with rounded arches along Hamilton Avenue, a red-tile roof and decorative wrought-iron grilles. The entryways featured bronze frames, decorative bronze transoms and bronze doors.
The sandstone window sills and archways came from the same San Jose quarries used in the construction of Stanford University. Inside, visitors found black walnut woodwork and decorative concrete beams crafted to resemble weathered timber. The lobby featured rare red Vermont marble that was among the last of its kind in the United States, as the quarry from which it came was already nearing depletion, the Peninsula Times Tribune reported in September 1933.
When the first cornerstone was placed, a grand parade of civic, fraternal, veteran and labor organizations, along with a local high school band, marked the occasion.
The post office opened in 1933. Federal officials hailed it as one of the country’s most impressive postal facilities. William J. Ashley, a construction engineer with the U.S. Treasury Department, called it “one of the outstanding federal post offices in the country” for both its spaciousness and architectural details.
The building went on to become a downtown landmark. By 1951, according to the Peninsula Times Tribune, Palo Alto’s post office had processed more than 100 million pieces of mail in a decade and handled the largest volume of postal business on the Peninsula.
