The old Beverly Hills Main Post Office is a

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

building at the Beverly Hills Civic Center in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills ...

. The building has carried the addresses 469 North Crescent Drive and 470 North Canon Drive. It was built as the main post office in the 1930s, remaining a post office until the 1990s, and in the 2010s became the Paula Kent Meehan Historic Building of the

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, also known as The Wallis, is a community arts center in Beverly Hills, California, named for philanthropist and endower Wallis Annenberg Location The Wallis is located on the corner of North S ...

History

The post office was part of the planning for the Beverly Hills Civic Center in the 1930s, and the City of Beverly Hills bought the property from the

Pacific Electric Railway Company The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

in 1930 in preparation for the Civic Center; the property had been the railway's Beverly Hills station. The post office was designed in an

Italian Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ar ...

style by architect Ralph C. Frewelling of Beverly Hills with

Allison & Allison Allison & Allison was the architectural firm of brothers James E. Allison (1870 – 1955) and David C. Allison (1881 – 1962). They established their firm in Pittsburgh in 1904 and moved to Los Angeles in 1910, where they would become we ...

as consultants. Includes National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form as attachment. Built as a WPA project, with Sarver and Zoss of Los Angeles as contractors, the post office opened on April 28, 1934. Even though the building was designed with the formal entrance facing north along

Santa Monica Boulevard Santa Monica Boulevard is a major west–east thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It runs from Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean to Sunset Boulevard at Sunset Junction in Los Angeles. It passes t ...

, the railway still owned tracks along the north and south, so the public mainly used the east and west entrances on Crescent Drive and Canon Drive. In 1960,

letter carrier A mail carrier, also referred to as a mailman, mailwoman, mailperson, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, postperson, person of post, letter carrier (in American English), or colloquially postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Unite ...

s were moved to the Post Office Annex at 325 North Maple Drive, but

post office box A post office box (commonly abbreviated as P.O. box, or also known as a postal box) is a uniquely addressable lockable box located on the premises of a post office. In some regions, particularly in Africa, there is no door-to-door delivery ...

es and window service remained. The Main Post Office on Crescent Drive was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985.

Beverly Hills Main Post Office - Wallis Annenberg Center - 2023 September 02

In 1990, 325 North Maple Drive was rebuilt as the new Beverly Hills Main Post Office, and most services moved out of the old Main on Crescent Drive. In March 1999, the old Main Post Office was closed and its post office boxes moved to Maple Drive. The old Post Office was sold back to the City of Beverly Hills in 1999. The City signed a long-term lease to the

, who named the building the Paula Kent Meehan Historic Building.

Gallery

References

{{Post offices in Los Angeles County, California Buildings and structures in Beverly Hills, California Former post office buildings Performing arts centers in California Post office buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in California Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles County, California Government buildings completed in 1934 1934 establishments in California 1930s architecture in the United States Allison & Allison buildings Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States Renaissance Revival architecture in California Works Progress Administration in California

History

Gallery

See also

References