Naugatuck's former main post office is located North of the Town Green, at the Southeast Corner of Church and Cedar Streets. It is a single-story masonry structure, its original main block finished in buff brick trimmed with terra cotta and marble, and covered by a hipped red tile roof. A later 20th-century addition extends to its rear; it has a frame of steel and concrete, but is finished with similar materials and covered by a flat roof. The main facade is dominated by five large round-arch openings, with the four outer ones housing windows that flank the main entrance in the center bay. A frieze dotted with terra cotta and marble inlays extends below the bracketed cornice. The building was one of the first of forty-five post offices built by the federal government in 1916. The government had just produced a set of standards governing the size, scale, and architecture of post office buildings based on the size and importance of the community. Naugatuck was at the time a highly successful industrial community (home to
Charles Goodyear's
United States Rubber Company aka Uniroyal), and its center had recently been graced by the sophisticated architectural contributions of McKim, Meade & White. The city was consequently given a post office building of somewhat more elegance than was typically found in communities of similar size. == See also ==