U.S. Post Office, Court House, and Custom House

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The U.S. Post Office, Court House, and Custom House is a government building at 413 Middle St. in New Bern, Craven County, built in 1933 and 1934 in the Georgian Revival style with Colonial Revival and Neoclassical influences, designed by architects Robert F. Smallwood and James A. Wetmore.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2018 under criteria A, B, C and D, with local significance in architecture and politics and government, spanning 1935, when the building opened, to 1938, when its courtroom murals were installed.

Physical character

The limestone and granite exterior has a colonnade of two-story limestone columns and a copper-clad cupola, and its roof plan changed from hipped to side gabled during design in 1932. Inside, the postal lobby has terrazzo and marble floors, and the courtroom keeps its wood paneling, judge's bench, jury box, witness stand, and a frieze of oil-on-canvas murals.

Historical context

An earlier court and post office building went up in 1897 and gained a tower with a four-faced clock in 1910. USPS operated the post office until 1992, and GSA acquired the building in 2004; at the time of listing it served as a federal courthouse with the U.S. Marshals Service.