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Congratulations to the Eastport Post Office for being awarded a 2015 Maine Preservation Award!
Eastport Post Office, Eastport
Originally the Eastport Customs House, the building now known as the Eastport Post Office was constructed in 1891 in the Italianate style. It was one of 26 buildings constructed after a fire decimated the town’s commercial district. The post office is a contributing building in the Eastport Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. By 2011, the damage to slate shingles and a malfunctioning copper gutter system had allowed water to penetrate the building, and the masonry had also suffered significant damage. Restoration of the post office was challenging. Some of the granite stones weighed as much as 3,000 pounds. 80% of the structure’s east side required rebuilding, and this work required the removal and numbering of each stone. The work was conducted from the ground up,
employing temporary shoring measures and reinforced staging to carry the weight of the stones above. Despite these difficulties, the project team consisting of the U.S. Postal Service, WBRC Architects-Engineers, Building Envelope Specialists, and Joseph Gnazzo Company, completed on time and within budget. Today, the Eastport Post Office has been repaired to its original condition. Restoration of the structure preserved one of the great architectural landmarks in Downeast Maine.
For more information on this project, please contact Andrew Stein, New England Project Manager, United States Post Office at Andrew.l.stein@usps.gov.
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