The original lobby was retained for continued post office use.
The former U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Building was constructed between 1929 and 1930 to house federal functions, including a post office, the district court, and offices for a broad spectrum of federal agencies serving the Dallas area. Occupying a city block, the monumental building is a 1930s streamlined interpretation of Classical Revival or Renaissance Revival architecture. Over time, the building size proved to be inadequate for the expanding federal functions within.
Top: West entrance detail with original lettering above second-floor windows. Bottom: Third-floor main corridor with its decorative columns, beams, wainscoting and tile flooring retained in the rehabilitation.
Consequently, the building was sold to a private owner in recent years, and a rehabilitation strategy was then developed to convert the upper floors to 78 luxury apartments while retaining the post office on the main level. The notable aspects of the $19.9 million rehabilitation included preservation of the historic steel casement windows; preservation of the elaborate post office lobby while providing compatible separate circulation for the residential floors above; restoration of the two wood-paneled courtrooms for reuse as community space (which included conservation of the stenciled plaster beams); retention of the central corridor layouts, features and finishes on the upper floors, and rehabilitation of the previously demolished office spaces for luxury apartments.
