Valley City Post Office

U.S. Post Office-Valley City
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location	149 NE. Third St., Valley City, North Dakota
Coordinates	46°55′32″N 98°0′5″W / 46.92556°N 98.00139°WCoordinates: 46°55′32″N 98°0′5″W / 46.92556°N 98.00139°W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1916-17
Built by	O'Neill, William, & Son
Architect	Wetmore, James
Architectural style	Classical Revival
MPS	US Post Offices in North Dakota, 1900-1940 MPS
NRHP Reference #	89001758[1]
Added to NRHP	November 1, 1989

The Valley City Post Office, in Valley City, North Dakota, was designed in 1915 and built during 1916-17. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as U.S. Post Office-Valley City.^[1]

Its Classical Revival design is credited to the U.S. Office of Supervising Architect, James A. Wetmore, Acting Supervising Architect, although it was designed "in the spirit" of James Knox Taylor. It was built when post office designs were just beginning to be standardized, but shows individuality and does not follow any of the standardized plans that were adopted in 1915 at the national level. In fact, according to its NRHP nomination, it "was one of the last designs of its kind, and harks back to an earlier era when federal buildings were monolithic, imposing, costly, and built according to Beaux Arts principles of massing." It was described in a local newspaper account in 1916 as "'much more pretentious than most of the federal buildings that are being erected throughout the west when the size of the cities are taken into consideration'".^[2]

References

1. National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Norene Roberts (July 1989). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Valley City Post Office" (PDF). National Park Service. and accompanying two photos