Farley Building: History, Functions, Architecture, and Decorations

ARCHITECTURE IN NEW YORK: MCKIM, MEAD & WHITE JAMES A. FARLEY BUILDING
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Introduction
After White, Mead, and McKim completed their project of the Pennsylvania Station, they started their next major project across 8th Avenue, the United States General Post Office. Their previous project, Pennsylvania Station, was an enormous Roman Classic-Style edifice whereby they promised the New York Times that the United States General Post Office building would harmonize with the architectural plan of the monumental Roman Station. The Times reported that the entire group of buildings would be commensurate with the forum of Rome, characterized by plastered and colonnaded facades complementary to each other, displaying unity of scale and style of marked effect. Mirroring the width of the Pennsylvania train station, the granite structure in Midtown Manhattan occupies an entire two blocks of 8th Avenue from 31st street to 33rd street. This write-up will cover the history of the Farley Building, the functions the monumental building serves, its location, architecture, and decorations.[Greenberg, Allan, and Michael George. The Architecture of McKim, Mead, and White: 1879–1915. Architectural Book Publishing, 2013.]
History of the Farley Building
The building had been planned for in late 1890. As part of the planning for constructing the Roman train station, Pennsylvania proposed to the America Post office department to build a post office over the train station. The U.S. government accepted the offer in 1903 and made plans to build the Farley Building across the train station. As part of the plan, the Pennsylvania Railroad would construct the supporting columns and steel tracks to support the post office. In 1907, the U.S. government took the title of the 8th avenue site despite opposition from U.S. Congress. Under the Tarsney Act of 1893, the U.S. Department selected the architect of the post office building, allowing James Knox Taylor, the supervisory architect, to hold an architecture design competition for the U.S. postal office. He selected Mead, McKim, and White. The Post office incorporated 18,000 tons of steel, 4,700 cubic meters of pink granite, and 7 million bricks.[Plosky, Eric Jay. "The fall and rise of Pennsylvania Station: changing attitudes toward historic preservation in New York City." PhD diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999.]
The Monumental building was completed in 1913 at 5.275 million USD. The Farley Building was officially opened on September 5, 1914. It measured 332 feet along the side streets, 400,000 square feet of interior space, and 355 feet along 8th Avenue. In the early 1920s, the U.S. congressional report advocated for the building to be expanded westward because it had become congested. McKim, White, and Mead were rehired to expand the facility to encompass Morgan station, a parcel station, and an annex to the Farley Building. The building was developed from 1932 to 1934 under James Farley. The work involved installing a 152-short-ton arch that stretched 25 meters over the Pennsylvania train tracks. In 1966, Farley Monumental Building was made a significant milestone and listed on the UNESCO list in 1973. The post office was later assigned as th...