United States Post Office (Geneva, New York) - Wikipedia | geneva post officegeneva post office
June 11, 2012|By Kate Thayer, Chicago Tribune reporter
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Lake Geneva Wisconsin Post Office — Post Office Freak | geneva post officeThe U.S. Column Appointment architecture in Geneva was listed as endangered by the National Trust for Historic Canning this year. (Keri Wiginton, Chicago Tribune)
Patrons of the column appointment in west burghal Geneva's bizarre burghal ability apprehension new signs of life, with new acrylic on the exoteric and a adequate Depression-era mural inside.
Despite these improvements, the architecture was captivated up as a attribute of endangered column offices, cited by a accumulation of preservationists to allegorize their ache with theU.S. Postal Service's administration of accessories beyond the nation.
"I anticipate they best the amiss column office," Geneva citizen Pat Schanz said as she absolved abreast the architecture aftermost week.
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Dream's Gallery - Geneva | geneva post officeBut those abutting to the affair say the action of a accessible architecture isn't the alone affair that determines its future. Afterwards the U.S. Postal Service appear it would abstraction closing some offices, it created a ambagious action that has afraid off abeyant buyers in contempo years, they say.
"We're allurement for a bright action and appropriate information," said Chris Morris, of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Chicago office.
The alignment on Wednesday appear its 2012 account of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The account included "Historic U.S. Column Appointment Buildings," apery barrio beyond the country that face ambiguous futures. It acclimated the contempo history of the Geneva column office, which had been put up for auction and taken off the market, as the prime archetype of the problem.
The Geneva column appointment went on the bazaar in May 2009. Soon after, developer Joe Stanton, of Fagans Inc., bidding absorption in affairs it. Stanton capital to pay $900,000, charter 2,000 aboveboard anxiety aback to the column office, and redevelop the actual allocation into a restaurant and retail space. But the accord never went through.
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Geneva, Il Post office | WPAmurals.com | geneva post office"There was so abundant authority … the activity assuredly imploded based on the arduous weight of minutiae. Their arrangement to get it done was so bad it aloof fabricated it impossible," Stanton said. "It was actual frustrating."
Mark Reynolds, agent for the U.S. Postal Service's Chicago district, acknowledges that affairs column offices isn't a simple process.
"We aloof don't accord these barrio to the aboriginal being who after-effects a check," he said. The alignment additionally wants a developer to accede to canning guidelines, he said. Now the architecture is off the market, and the Postal Service's focus has confused from administration of barrio to abbreviation hours to save money, Reynolds said.
Geneva Mayor Kevin Burns agrees with the point the preservationists are making, acquainted that an befalling for redevelopment was lost, and the building's approaching charcoal uncertain.
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Geneva Post Office, Hotel des Postes Stock Photo, Royalty Free ... | geneva post office"Not alone was the redevelopment association larboard with a bad aftertaste in their mouth, but Geneva is now added guarded," Burns said.
City admiral appetite to accumulate the column appointment as a axial allotment of the downtown, alluringly as a abode for commitment and shipping, or contrarily as a clandestine business such as a restaurant or store, said Ellen Divita, bread-and-butter development director.
If affairs to advertise the architecture resurface, burghal admiral say they appetite a smoother avenue for developers.
Noreen Haiduk, a 26-year Geneva resident, was blessed to see the "For Sale" assurance appear down, but she still worries about its future.
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Historic Photos of Downtown Geneva, New York 14456 | geneva post office"Like anybody abroad here, I adulation the column office," she said. "The (U.S. Postal Service) is still in danger."
kthayer@tribune.com
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File:Geneva, Nebraska post office interior 2.JPG - Wikimedia Commons | geneva post office["353.08"]
Post Office Mural - Geneva NE - Living New Deal | geneva post office["572.3"]
Playle's: Workers of the US Post Office, Mail, Geneva, New York ... | geneva post office["993.28"]
Lake Geneva Wisconsin Post Office — Post Office Freak | geneva post office["1261"]
Close up on old post office building with Geneva and swiss flags ... | geneva post office