New Deal buildings or New Deal murals or artwork.

Plano Illinois Post Office

December 20, 2014 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 102 North Center Street, Plano, Illinois, 60545
ARTIST: Perterpaul Ott
TITLE: Harvest
MEDIUM: Wood (carvings)
STATUS: The Plano post office is still an active, operating facility, and the carving can be viewed by interested members of the public. They reside in the lobby on the wall above the bulletin boards.
YEAR: 1941

Were you looking for a mural? Did you think to yourself, “oh cool another old period looking building”, I bet they have a cool mural? Guess again. This one does have art, but just not a mural. It happens to have not ONE but TWO wood carvings. Pretty cool considering there are more murals than wood carvings that were commissioned during the depression era.

I like the change things up so viewing, photographing art other than a murals was a real treat. I love the look and appearance of the wood carvings. I wondering if they have been treated, if so with what? I’m glad they have not painted over or removed. What are your impressions of the wood carvings? Do you know the artist or any interesting facts about them? Please comment below.

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Top

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Signature

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Full

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Bottom

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Center

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Left Side Detail

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Lobby

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Full

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Signature

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Top

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Center

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Full Bottom

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Right Side Detail

Plano Illinois Post Office Art 60545 Wood Carvings

Sources

Personal visit on 7/05/2014 and 04/26/2023 by David W. Gates Jr.
Illinois Post Office Mural Guidebook
United States Postal Service
Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal: [Hardcover] Marlene Park, Gerald E. Markowitz

La Follette Tennessee Post Office

December 13, 2014 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 1221 E Central Ave., La Follette, Tennessee, 37766
ARTIST: Dahlov Ipcar
TITLE: On the Shores of the Lake
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The mural no longer reside in the original building. It was moved to the newer post office building on Central Ave (Shown here). The mural is on display in the lobby and is accessible to members of the public during business hours.
YEAR: 1939

Welcome to La Follette, Tennessee. I’m trying to remember if we visited this building first or the original building on Tennessee street. Either way when I stepped into the lobby of this newer building I wasn’t expecting to find the mural here. I’m really glad it has been preserved and moved. But it seems out-of-place. I’m trying to decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

When the murals were original installed, they were often times installed up hight above the postmasters office door. However, since this one was moved it was installed at a lower level, closer to the floor. The benefit of this, is the observer has a much closer and eye level view of the mural. Patrons are able to get an close look at all the detail. The drawback is that it looks awkward so close to the floor.

Additional notes, when I run into situations like this. Where the building is newer and it has artwork. It becomes difficult to categorize this article. Here is my dilemma. When I initially setup the categories, the “New Deal” category was meant to classify an older building with corner-stone and have been built during this time period. Since this is a newer building, I can’t classify it as “New Deal”. However, this location does have artwork from the this time period. Thus you can see my dilemma when classifying this type of building and article.

What do you think? Were you involve in moving this mural? What were some of the discussions involved in installations of this artwork? Please comment below.

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Artist Signature

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Center

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Detail

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Full

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Left Side

La Follette Tennessee Post Office Mural 37766 Right Side

Sources

Personal visit on 9/6/2014 by David W. Gates Jr.
Tennessee Post Office Murals by David W. Gates Jr.
Tennessee Post Office Mural Guidebook by David W. Gates Jr.
United States Postal Service
(affiliate link): Democratic Vistas: Post Offices and Public Art in the New Deal
(affiliate link): Tennessee Post Office Murals: Howard Hull
Parma Conservation (https://parmaconservation.com)
WVLT (Historic LaFollette post office preserved for art, tourism (wvlt.tv)

Former La Follette Tennessee Post Office

December 6, 2014 By David W. Gates Jr.

ADDRESS: 119 S. Tennessee Ave., La Follette, Tennessee 37766
ARTIST: Dahlov Ipcar
TITLE: On the Shores of the Lake
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas (mural)
STATUS: The mural no longer reside in the original building shown here. It was moved to the newer post office building on Central Ave. The mural is on display in the lobby and is accessible to members of the public during business hours.
YEAR: 1939

For mural information please see our article of the current La Follette, Tennessee Post Office.

Today’s featured post office is the classic WPA error building from La Follette, Tennessee. What a great looking building and facade. If you found this article because you were hoping to find out more about the mural. I’m sorry to say it is no longer here. However, the good news is that you can still see it at the newer building on Central Ave.

Now back to this building, so it is no longer the post office and after some basic research appears to have been sold. After reading up I also discovered it sold for a relatively inexpensive price. You can read more about this by following the resource links below.

Post Office: Senator J. Will Taylor successfully lobbied funds from the “New Deal” program to construct a post office within LaFollette. It was constructed and built in 1937. This office served the city of LaFollette until the early 1990’s. Within the Historical Society Museum there is a thorough pictorial documentation showing construction through- out 1937 and 1938.

I want to hear from you, what do you remember about this building? Are you a postal working who spent years working here? What do you remember about the mural in the lobby? Did you ever meet the artist or the descendants of the artists? Do you have old newspaper articles of the dedication ceremony? I’d love to hear from you. Please comment below.

Thanks,

David W. Gates Jr.