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39-563: The U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Custom House in Utica occupies a full block bounded by Broad Street on the north, John Street on the east, Catherine Street on the south, and Franklin Street on the west. Located on the edge of downtown, the limestone-and-brick building is separated by an elevated viaduct which dominates the site. Its simple classicized detailing sets it apart from the many Victorian buildings in downtown Utica. Constructed in 1928 and 1929,

78-484: A "simplified but recognizable" classicism in its overall massing and scale while eliminating traditional decorative detailing. The orders of architecture are only hinted at or are indirectly implicated in the form and structure. Despite its etymological similarity, Stripped Classicism is sometimes distinguished from "Starved Classicism", the latter "displaying little feeling for rules, proportions, details, and finesse, and lacking all verve and élan". At other times

117-618: A 'new beginning' under New Dealism (which was fighting to ameliorate the ramifications of the Great Depression ), and concomitantly, archetypal American genius. A discussion of the Roosevelt administration, its reinvention of the past (centred on Jeffersonianism ) and its uses of architecture in the 1930s can be found in Patterson's 'Problem-Solvers' thesis. Public Buildings Act of 1926 The Public Buildings Act of 1926 , also known as

156-725: A new series of federal office buildings be built near the White House . President Calvin Coolidge asked the United States Congress for legislation and funds in his message of December 9, 1924. The House passed a $ 150 million construction bill in February 1925, but the bill died in the Senate a month later. The legislation was reintroduced on January 8, 1926. The House passed the measure on February 15. The measure proved highly contentious in

195-442: A pair of leather covered and obscure glass doors along the side of the room. All of the walls are paneled with walnut which is set in panels between pilasters. At the top of the wall is an architrave with triglyphs . The ceiling is plaster and has a fret work plaster cornice. The judge's and clerk's desks are walnut with applied classical detailing. Since 1882 this has been the site of Utica's Post Office. The first building

234-414: Is limestone and the first through third floors are brick. An entablature, continuing around from the front, separates the second and third floors. The facade is topped by a slate-covered pitched roof. The northernmost bay reflects the front corner, as both edges of the bay have limestone quoins, and above this bay is the elevator penthouse. The Franklin Street (side) facade on the west is nearly identical to

273-446: Is now home to Honorable District Judge Hurd and Honorable Bankruptcy Judge Radel. Stripped Classicism Stripped Classicism (or "Starved Classicism" or "Grecian Moderne") is primarily a 20th-century classicist architectural style stripped of most or all ornamentation , frequently employed by governments while designing official buildings. It was adopted by both totalitarian and democratic regimes. The style embraces

312-400: Is streamlined, as much multi-functional as it is fit for the multi-faceted modern future vis-a-vis high-speed travel, technologically advanced means of communication, hydraulic engineering etc... "all in time for the most mechanised war in history", as Samuel Patterson writes. The Stripped Classical style was also embraced by Franklin D. Roosevelt , who yearned for an architecture symbolising

351-705: The Elliot–Fernald Act , was a statute which governed the construction of federal buildings throughout the United States, and authorized funding for this construction. Its primary sponsor in the House of Representatives was Representative Richard N. Elliott of Indiana (who served on the House Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds ), and its primary sponsor in the Senate was Bert M. Fernald of Maine (who served on

390-539: The Senate Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds . Congress had provided funding for no federal buildings between 1913 and 1926. The U.S. federal government had struggled with the need to build a number of large governmental office buildings since the mid-1910s, but little had been done. In January 1924, the Public Buildings Commission (an independent agency of the executive branch) recommended that

429-706: The Tudor Revival library interior), the 1937 University of Texas at Austin's Main Tower , the 1937 Federal Reserve Building in Washington, D.C., and the 1939 Bethesda Naval Hospital tower. It is sometimes evident in buildings that were constructed by the Works Projects Administration during the Great Depression , albeit with a mix of Art Deco architecture or its elements. Related styles have been described as PWA Moderne and Greco Deco . The movement

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468-476: The "Bruce amendment." The Senate accepted the conference committee's bill on May 17, 1926, and the House did so on May 19. President Coolidge signed the bill into law on May 25, 1926. The legislation contained three major provisions: The legislation required Congressional approval of any expenditure in the nation's capital. It also restricted the executive branch from spending more than $ 10 million annually in

507-725: The 1930s as well". The style later found adherents in the Fascist regimes of Germany and Italy as well as in the Soviet Union during Stalin 's regime. Albert Speer 's Zeppelinfeld and other parts of the Nazi party rally grounds complex outside Nuremberg were perhaps the most famous examples in Germany, using classical elements such as columns and altars alongside modern technology such as spotlights . The Casa del Fascio in Como has also been aligned with

546-720: The District of Columbia, and more than $ 5 million annually in any single state. The legislation authorized the United States Department of the Treasury to begin construction on the Federal Triangle complex of buildings, purchase land for a new Supreme Court of the United States building, construct a major extension of the United States Government Printing Office building on North Capitol Street in

585-620: The District of Columbia, and significantly widen B Street NW on the north side of the National Mall (eventually renamed Constitution Avenue ). Buildings constructed outside the District of Columbia under the Act include: Congress amended the Act in 1930 to permit private (not just federally employed) architects to bid on design contracts, and agreed to fund the construction of the Justice, Labor/ICC, National Archives, and Post Office buildings. The Act

624-435: The Senate. After much debate, the Senate adopted the bill along with an amendment offered by Sen. William Cabell Bruce of Maryland which restricted construction of government buildings in Washington, D.C., to sites south of Pennsylvania Avenue . The bill went into a House–Senate conference committee , so that the differences between the two bills could be reconciled. The conference committee report recommended inclusion of

663-435: The United States. In any event, presumed "fascist" underpinnings have hampered acceptance into mainstream architectural thought. There is no evidence that architects who favored this style had a particular right-wing political disposition. Nevertheless, both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were fans. On the other hand, Stripped Classicism was favored by Joseph Stalin and various regional Communist regimes. After

702-460: The World Wars, a stripped-down classicism became the de facto standard for many monumental and institutional governmental buildings all over the world. Governments used this architectural méthode to straddle modernism and classicism , an ideal political response to a modernizing world. In part, this movement was said to have origins in the need to save money in governmental works by eschewing

741-415: The absence of ornament) and through their pure functionality. Adolf Loos , an Austrian theorist of modern architecture, and his essay " Ornament and Crime " can be seen as just one of the many philosophers/theorists/architects who foreshadowed some of the stylistic elements of Stripped Classicism. Avant-garde movements such as Futurism also foreshadowed a form of building which is as much extravagant as it

780-891: The basement of the earlier building. Construction of the Utica Post Office and Custom Building was authorized by the Public Buildings Act of 1926 , which also specified that the Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury was to be responsible for the design of all public buildings. The building was designed in 1927 by the Office of the Supervising Architect under James A. Wetmore . It has historical significance as Utica's Main Post Office, Custom House, and Courthouse for almost 50 years. Because of its size and location on

819-859: The defeat of Nazi Germany and end of World War II , the style fell out of favor. However, it was somewhat revived in designs in the 1960s. Included was Philip Johnson 's New York Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , evidencing "a revival in the Stripped Classical style". Likewise, Canberra, Australia saw the Law Courts of the Australian Capital Territory (1961) and the National Library of Australia (1968) resurrect grand Stripped Classical designs. See Australian non-residential architectural styles . The use of culture and 'myth'

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858-456: The east facade except that the rear six bays of the third floor extend up above the pitched roof to allow for the additional height of the courtroom. The cornice at the eave line extends across this facade, and at the top of this section is a parapet. The Catherine Street (rear) facade reflects the complexities of the building's plan in that the ends of the U-shaped third floor face the rear. Across

897-498: The edge of downtown, it stands out as a local landmark. As a good example of Starved Classicism, a style common to public buildings of the 1920s and 1930s, its simple classicized detailing sets it apart from the many Victorian buildings in downtown Utica. Starved Classicism is a restrained, undetailed version of the Neo-Classical Revival, and the Utica building is an excellent example of this architectural style. The courthouse

936-487: The expense of hand-worked classical detail. In Europe, examples as early as the Embassy of Germany, Saint Petersburg , designed by Peter Behrens and completed in 1912, "established models for the classical purity aspired to by high modernists like Mies van der Rohe but also for the oversized, Stripped Classicism of Hitler's, Stalin's and Ulbricht 's architects and perhaps of American, British and French official buildings in

975-441: The front of the building is one of the most elaborate spaces in the building. The lobby floor is terrazzo with oriental red and white marble borders covers the lobby floor. Round arched openings on either side of the elevator lead to the stairways. Wide corridors opposite the vestibules extend toward the rear from the lobby. The remainder of the first floor is the postal workroom which has been partitioned off. Some remaining areas of

1014-661: The future. Other writers have noted the need to read the impact of avant-garde movements such as the Italian Futurists , who extolled the innumerable possibilities of the modern world, on this unique style (and the futurism it espoused). It was popularised by the French-born Paul Philippe Cret , among others, and employed in Nazi Germany , Fascist Italy , the Soviet Union and New Deal America . Though

1053-424: The light court is the freight elevator penthouse. The roof along the north side is gabled and the roofs along the east wing and half of the west wing are truncated gables. The end of the east wing is hipped. The courtroom, located at the end of the west wing, has a flat roof. The second floor center light court extends down to the first-floor skylights, and this roof is also flat. The public lobby which extends across

1092-597: The movement. In the USSR some of the proposals for the unbuilt Palace of the Soviets also had characteristics of the style. Among American architects, the work of Paul Philippe Cret exemplifies the style. His Château-Thierry American Monument built in 1928 has been identified as an early example. Among his other works identified with the style are the exterior of the 1933 Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. (though not

1131-410: The north elevation, have granite steps bounded by limestone-clad cheek walls. Around the doorway are fluted Tuscan-order pilasters and an entablature . The facade is topped by a simple cornice and a pitched slate roof. Limestone and brick elevator penthouses rise from the pitched roof at each corner. The John Street (side) facade faces east and is 161 feet long divided into thirteen bays. The base

1170-590: The past (as symbolised by Stripped Classicism's restrained classical features) by ransacking its archetypal 'healthy' elements to inaugurate a reforged, rejuvenated, futural, open-ended and monumental future. It is this curious dichotomy between old and new, an inexorable feature of Stripped Classicism, which historian Roger Griffin has encapsulated in his conceptual framework of 'rooted modernism' (which he discusses in relation to fascist buildings). The modernism in Stripped Classical buildings can be seen through their stylistic components (mute apertures, blank walls and

1209-416: The rear at the base of the building is a loading platform which served the postal workroom, and which is also covered by two flat overhanging canopies. The facade is 166 feet long divided into fifteen bays and is entirely clad with brick. Limestone quoins decorate each corner. The U-shaped third floor has a light court which opens to the rear. The courtroom is at the end of the west wing. At the center rear of

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1248-408: The term is usually reserved for the more thorough style that forms part of 20th-century rational architecture , characteristics of Stripped Classicism are embodied in works of some progressive late 18th- and early 19th-century neoclassical architects , such as Étienne-Louis Boullée , Claude Nicolas Ledoux , Friedrich Gilly , Peter Speeth , Sir John Soane and Karl Friedrich Schinkel . Between

1287-425: The terms "stripped" and "starved" are used interchangeably. Stripped Classicism was a materialistic manifestation of 'political' modernism . Recent historiography has explicitly linked this architectural style – and its relationship with modernist thinking – to political projects arising in the 1920–1930s, which utilised artistic dexterity to articulate – in built form – a powerful political ethos orientated towards

1326-448: The three-story building rises above a slightly raised basement and is an excellent example of Starved Classicism . The height of the building from first floor level to courtroom parapet is about 58 feet. The basement, first floor, and second floor are approximately square in plan and the third floor is U-shaped. The walls of the building are clad with buff-colored brick, except for the base and center front which are clad in limestone. All of

1365-496: The windows are double hung. The original wood sashes have been replaced with bronze anodized aluminum units. The Broad Street facade is 166 feet long and is divided into eleven bays. The base course serves as a plinth for two-story Corinthian pilasters which mark the bays and support an entablature which extends the full length of the facade. Inscribed in the center of the frieze are the words "Post Office," "Court House," and "Custom House." The two front entrances, at opposite ends of

1404-399: The workroom have their original finishes. The floor, bases, wainscots, and trim are all wood, and the walls and ceilings are plaster. The other architecturally significant interior space is the courtroom. It is particularly noteworthy because the original cork-tile floor and all of the original furniture remain intact. Located on the third floor the seventeen-foot-high space is entered through

1443-481: Was a shared peculiarity of totalitarian political programmes during the 1920–30s, including Nazism in Germany and Soviet Communism in Russia. Cultural incentives launched by these states, and all their various intricacies, evoked currents of modernist thought. Through architecture, they strove to invoke the power of modernity in their physical landscapes (especially in their capital cities) and, simultaneously, reinvent

1482-445: Was two stories tall with a stone basement. The building itself was constructed of red brick with stone detailing. The 1927 plans for the current building refer to this project as the "Enlargement, Extension, Remodeling, etc." of the U.S. Post Office, Custom House, and Courthouse in Utica, New York; a curious title since there are few remnants of the original building. The only remaining portions are massive stone walls and vaults which were

1521-526: Was widespread, and transcended national boundaries. Architects who at least notably experimented in Stripped Classicism included John James Burnet , Giorgio Grassi , Léon Krier , Aldo Rossi , Albert Speer , Robert A. M. Stern and Paul Troost . Despite its popularity with totalitarian regimes, it has been adapted by many English-speaking democratic governments, including during the New Deal in

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