NAPA, CA – U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-5) today announced that the United States Postal Service (USPS) has agreed at this time to stop pursuing the demolition of the Historic Franklin Station Post Office in downtown Napa and will instead pursue the sale of the building and property. The USPS will initiate the process to sell the post office in mid-August. The USPS will hold a public meeting where community members can provide feedback on the location of the new Napa post office.

Many thanks are due to Congressman Thompson and to everyone who pressured the USPS to back away from the proposed demolition.

Read Congressman Thompson’s press release.

The US Postal Service wants to tear down the historic Downtown Post Office in Napa, California. The Postal Service has not held a public meeting and openly discussed the reasons why this Art Deco masterpiece and important part of Napa's history must be destroyed.

The Postal Service announced that it will cost $8 million to restore the building and make it earthquake proof. The Postal Service compares that with $500,000 to raze the structure. But the Postal Service did not provide any basis for these numbers.  Julianne Polanco, California's State Historic Preservation Officer,  wrote the Postal Service that the "correspondence received contained no explanatory information, such as structural reports, economic analyses, existing condition assessment, in order to derive such a determination."

But even while the Postal Service is refusing to hold a public meeting, the citizens of Napa are organizing and fighting back to save their Downtown Post Office!

Napa County Landmarks will host a public meeting to generate support for saving the Franklin Station post office. Please come and speak out to save this important Napa landmark.

6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Monday August 10, 2015
Napa County Library, 580 Coombs St., Napa, CA 94559

For details, call 255-1836.

The Downtown Napa Post Office at 1352 Second Street was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. An outstanding example of Art Deco design, the post office was constructed during the New Deal in 1933.

 

By law, Federal Agencies are responsible for preserving historic properties under their jurisdiction. The Postal Service has failed to do that with historic properties across our earthquake prone state. The Napa Post Office was damaged in the August 24, 2014 quake. Now the Postal Service proposes to demolish the building.

1. Demolition of the Franklin Station Post Office will have a significant impact on Napa and will result in a permanent loss of a part of Bay Area history. The Postal Service has not attempted to mitigate the loss.
2. The Franklin Station Post Office has high artistic and architectural value. It was designed by Napa architect William Corlett and is a rare example of the Art Deco style in Napa.
3. The United States Postal Service holds the Franklin Station Post Office in trust for the people of our country. It remains a public building built with taxpayer funds and belongs to all of us.
4. The Postal Service is responsible for maintaining the building in good condition. That responsibility includes seismic analysis and structural improvement. The Postal Service failed to protect the public, their employees and this building.
5. The Franklin Station Post Office has suffered from deferred maintenance.
6. The Postal Service has not analyzed alternatives. The Postal Service unilaterally decided on demolition and has not released information to the public supporting their decision to demolish the building.
7. There has been no public process, no public notice.
   

• City of Napa Downtown Post Office webpage
  
• USPS letter to California SHPO proposing demolition, June 26, 2015 (with attachments)
  
• Save Our Historic Napa Post Office on Facebook
• Napa Valley Register: "Napans Rally to Protest Demolition"
  
• April 2014 Report to Congress on "Preserving Historic Post Offices" by the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
• Section 110 and the Spirit of Stewardship
• USPS Inspector General "Preservation and and Disposal of Historic Properties", April 2014
• USPS Inspector General "Postal Service Management of CBRE Real Estate Transactions", April 2015