Awesome oak & otherwise updating the Square

My last try at photographing the lovely oak accents at the downtown post office was a flop -- I didn't think to use the flash, of all the beginners' boo-boos. Fortunately, today I had business with the postal people, giving me a chance to redeem myself.

A brass accent in the center of that beautiful, heavy oak table in the first picture. I would imagine that those round empties once held bottles of ink. Anybody reading this remember fountain pens or brass quills?

More oak framing: here, high windows to help light the in-coming box mail sorting room.

What the ceilings of this 1930s building look like. Quite as pastel as the picture, BTW.

There was one wrong note in the post office lobby -- a scabrous looking radiator, against the marble paneling.

Out on Goodwin Street, I came across my first piece of good news; the Talking Rock real estate office is leaving the center of town for its on-site office out at Inscription Canyon. One less real estate office on the Square, though I'm sure that this location will not revert to its original use (a wonderful bookstore, The Satisfied Mind).

I couldn't resist the clock in front of the Chamber of Commerce. It reminds me of an ornate pocket watch or perhaps a Victorian lady's watch pendant.

And the second piece ofgood news -- I had thought that the Cat's Meow was gone forever when it vacated the corner of Montezuma and Gurley. Not. Seems it has taken the space left by The Betty Co., which, I guess, couldn't sell enough Bettys to make a go of it. Anyhow, the CM now has more space right on Whiskey Row and I'll be able to scrounge a fudge sample every so often. Further: it seems that splendid corner location has a new tenant, though I didn't walk down that far.

I want him! At Van Gogh's Ear. But I fear he'd cost too much to allow him to join my ants or my new horny toad (pictures later).

Further good news: though it's difficult to find practical necessities on the streets surrounding the Square, I was able to buy back-up batteries in this little goodie shop in the midst of the Row's saloons and galleries. Whew! A very useful addition, especially if you run out of smokes or want ice cream, popcorn or jalepeno brittle. They must do a very good business, as rents are surely prohibitive for a large variety store.

And, finally, the best news of all. Tombo reports that this nest on the west side of the Courthouse is occupied by a raven pair. I didn't see the birds, but I'll take his word for it.

Federal Architecture From Depression Era

Officially, it's a U.S. Post Office. On the top floor is a federal district courthouse. Of course, this is not the Prescott post office -- that's over on Schemmer Drive, just off Miller Valley Road. Not in the middle of town, which is where the main post office ought to be, in any proper city.

It took an outcry from the downtown merchants, the city and county fathers to keep this historic post office open. Built in 1931, the structure is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. When the city outgrew this facility, the Miller Valley PO was was built in the early 90s; the feds had planned to turn the Cortez Street building into an federal office and court house building. Thank goodness sanity prevailed -- I have a box there. Also, it's a lot more convenient for all those tourists to stamp and mail their post cards.


The windows are pretty grand, although these around on the Cortez Street side may need some TLC of the kind that cost Uncle $166 Gs up at the third-floor court house. According to the Courier, "officials knew they had to do something after a window fell apart in a judge's hands." However, that kind of money bought a real restoration rather than some mismatched or slap-dash repairs.


I wonder how long it has been since modern post offices bothered with decorative brass boxes...


...and drawers (for those with a serious flow of mail.) I vote in favor of decorative brass over brushed stainless steel any day.

It's curious -- when I was in my impressionable 20s (and this building was about the same age), I was quite caught up in Mies van de Rohe chic. I would have poo-pooed the Goodwin Street post office as hopelessly mundane and outdated.

Chicago, long proud of its architectural heritage, boasted a couple of stark, "structurally honest", clean-lined apartment buildings by Mies. By the time we left the big city in the early 80s, those monuments to modernity were looking a lot tattier than this local building looks today, nearly 30 years later. It's much more interesting, too. Maybe that's because Mies would never have used decorative brass.