Bristol Customshouse and Post Office

History

Bristol Customshouse and Post Office is a historic two-story rectangular Italian palazzo style brick building that was used as a post office and customshouse in Bristol, Rhode Island, United States. The land for the site was acquired for $4,400. The building was designed by Ammi B. Young and completed in 1858 for a cost of $22,135.75. The building roughly measures 46 feet (14 m) by 32 feet (9.8 m) and is constructed of deep red brick and has three arched openings on each of its sides and stories that are lined with sandstone moldings. The archways protrude from the side of the building and the center archway serves as the first floor with the adjacent archways housing large windows that are barred with iron. As it typical of the style, the second floor is more elaborate with a shallow balcony of iron supported by iron brackets and the paneling of the upper facade's surmounting entablature is elaborately decorative. The sides and rear are similar to the front facade, but include blind recesses and the molding is of a browner sandstone.

The building was abandoned in 1962 and acquired by the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in 1964. The YMCA has an adjacent structure and used the building as an ante-space until 1990. Currently, the building is used as offices. The Bristol Customshouse and Post Office is historically significant as it is an example of the Italian palazzo mode of architecture. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.