Construction A general post office in Midtown Manhattan had been planned from the late 1890s. As part of the planning of
Penn Station in the first decade of the 20th century, the
Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) proposed that the
United States Post Office Department construct a post office on 8th Avenue, across from the station. In February 1903, the U.S. government accepted the PRR's proposal and made plans to construct what would become the Farley Building. A
deed was prepared and submitted in 1905 to
George B. Cortelyou, the
Postmaster General of the United States. The PRR would construct the tracks and supporting columns under the post office as part of the plan. The site faced opposition from several members of the
United States Congress, who expressed concern that the U.S. government would only own "a chunk of space in the air", namely the
air rights above the tracks. Concern also stemmed from the planned interior court measuring , which could potentially become a ventilation
flue. Nonetheless, the land for the post office was acquired by June 1906. The U.S. government took title to the site in January 1907, with an
easement for the PRR allowing trains to use the tracks and platforms underneath. The architect was selected under the
Tarsney Act of 1893, which permitted the Supervisory Architect to hold an
architectural design competition for U.S. government facilities. Several prominent firms and architects were invited to submit plans in early 1908. Supervisory architect
James Knox Taylor selected McKim, Mead & White for the post office the same year. By then, steelwork for the tracks and platforms was already under construction. The construction of Pennsylvania Station across the street was progressing more quickly. The as-yet-incomplete Penn Station post office saw its first mail, delivered through the mail platform, when the station officially opened on November 27, 1910. A $2.5 million contract to build the Post Office was awarded to the
George A. Fuller Company in March 1911. By December 1913, the post office was already processing second, third, and fourth class mail.
The New York Times characterized the new post office as "not only the largest, but the finest in the world" of its kind. With this, the
Long Island Rail Road's mail operations were moved from
Long Island City to the Penn Station post office. As completed, the Penn Station post office measured along Eighth Avenue and along the side streets, with of interior space. The
Times described it as the second largest building in the city behind the original Penn Station and
Grand Central Terminal, the post office incorporating some of pink granite, 18,000 tons of steel, and 7 million bricks. The post office was known as the Pennsylvania Terminal when it opened; at the time, the city's general post office was still the
City Hall Post Office in
Lower Manhattan. Effective July 1, 1918, the Penn Station post office became New York City's general post office. By the early 1920s, the General Post Office had become congested, and a U.S. Congressional report in 1923 recommended that it be expanded westward. The U.S. government announced its intention, in 1927, to buy the plot immediately west of the existing post office building.
Expansion The Post Office Department announced an expansion of the General Post Office in 1930. The western part of the block would contain an annex to the main facility, as well as a parcel post station called Morgan Station. McKim, Mead & White were rehired for the expansion. The building was expanded between 1932 and 1934 under then-Postmaster General
James A. Farley. Foundation work was contracted to James Stewart & Co. and was nearly completed by early 1933. During the construction of the annex, Farley's building supply firm, the General Builders Supply Corporation, had received a federal contract under the
Hoover administration to provide building materials. Farley was accused by U.S. senator
Huey Long of receiving preferential treatment from the
Roosevelt administration, but the Senate cleared him of any wrongdoing, in what would be known as "The Long-Farley Affair of 1935". The annex opened in December 1935. In February 1938, the Treasury awarded a $696,000 contract to O'Driscoll and Grove Inc. for the renovation of the original portion of the structure. The work was to be performed in phases and completed within 300 days.
Late 20th century During the 20th century, the General Post Office hosted Christmas tree-lighting events. The building was made a
New York City designated landmark in 1966 and was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Known for being the supreme
Democratic Party boss of New York State, Farley was responsible for
Franklin D. Roosevelt's rise to the U.S. presidency. In the early 1990s, U.S. senator
Daniel Patrick Moynihan began to champion a plan to rebuild a replica of the
historic Penn Station, in which he had shined shoes during the
Great Depression. At the time, existing facilities at Penn Station were overcrowded and the USPS was planning to move much of its operations to another facility. In 1994, the cornice was removed; it was so deteriorated that chunks of stone had started falling onto the street. Parts of the deteriorated steel structure were also replaced. By October 2002, the New York state government had arranged to buy the Farley Building from the USPS for $230 million, with the USPS vacating much of the building. The Farley Post Office building was sold to the New York state government in 2006 in the hope that Moynihan's vision would be realized. Before the
Great Recession in 2009, the Farley Post Office was the only New York City post office that was open
24/7, but as a result of the recession, its windows started closing at 10:00 p.m. During the 2010s, the event venue operator Skylight Group used the Farley Building as an event venue. The Moynihan Station Development Corporation awarded a contract to Skylight in September 2012, allowing the latter group to use the building's sorting room and loading area for events. Events staged at the building included fashion shows such as
New York Fashion Week, in addition to movie premieres, parties, and product launches. The first phase, consisting of new exits, a connection to the
New York City Subway at
34th Street and Eighth Avenue, and an expanded concourse within the James Farley Post Office, started on October 18, 2010. The first phase opened in June 2017. Construction of the second phase, comprising a new train hall within the Farley Building, started two months afterward. It opened on January 1, 2021. As part of the Moynihan redevelopment,
The Related Companies and
Vornado Realty Trust were selected to develop the building's retail space. The companies signed a contract in June 2017. Vornado and Related leased the building for 99 years, and in exchange, contributed $630 million to the hall's construction. In early 2018, Vornado and Related started considering plans to convert the Farley Building's remaining space that was not being used by the train hall. The developers contemplated marketing the building for use by a biotechnology or pharmaceutical company. In August 2020,
Meta Platforms signed a lease for all of the office space in the Farley Building, following a similar acquisition the company had made at nearby
Hudson Yards the previous year. The lease came during the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, when most Manhattan office workers were
remote workers, and was seen at the time as a major positive for Manhattan's office market. ==See also==