90 Church Street

History

90 Church Street was designed by Cross & Cross, Pennington, Lewis & Mills and Louis A. Simon, who was Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury at the time. The architectural style of the building is a mixture of Neo-classicism and Art Deco. It has two towers and the facade is clad in limestone. The AIA Guide to New York City described the building as "a boring limestone monolith that has trouble deciding between a heritage of stripped down neo-Classical and a new breath of Art Deco."

The construction of the building started in 1934 and was completed in 1937. There was a six stories addition on top in 1938.

It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The building was extensively renovated by Boston Properties, Inc from the early 1990s though 2000 by Architects Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and Brannen Associates.

In addition to housing the Postal Service, the 90 Church Street building contains offices of the New York State Public Service Commission, the New York State Health Department, and the New York City Housing Authority.

September 11 attacks

The building suffered moderate damage during the September 11 attacks due to a remnant of one of the planes and other debris landing on top of the building. Following the collapse of the World Trade Center's twin towers, the building's facade was damaged, windows were broken, the roof was seriously burned and major water damage occurred throughout the internal structure. It was also extensively contaminated with asbestos, lead dust, fungi, fiberglass dust, mercury, and bacteria. The building was entirely engulfed by dust after the collapse of both buildings, respectively, and was further damaged when Building 7 collapsed later the same day. There was no major structural damage. During recovery efforts at Ground Zero, the United States Postal Service worked to return individual pieces of mail found by rescue workers to the addressees. In August 2004, the Church Street Station Post Office reopened, and mail was once again being processed there. Church Street Station also serves the 10007 ZIP code, covering portions of Battery Park City, Tribeca, and Civic Center.

References

References

1. {{NRISref. 2006a
2. {{cite aia5
3. "New York MPS US Post Office--Church Street Station". U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
4. Gobrecht, Larry E.. (November 1986). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: Church Street Station Post Office". [[New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation]]}} ''See also:'' {{cite web.
5. Dunlap, David W.. (August 19, 2004). "Post Office, Polluted on Sept. 11, Is Back in Business". The New York Times.
6. Barbanel, Josh. (September 10, 2003). "COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE: REGIONAL MARKET -- Manhattan; Wrangling Over a Cleanup at 90 Church Street". The New York Times.
7. FEMA. (May 2002). "World Trade Center Building Performance Study".
8. "Letter to customers explaining recovered 9/11 mail". National Postal Museum.
9. Barr, Meghan. (December 4, 2006). "Mail Still Being Sent to Trade Center". Associated Press.