New Deal Era murals depict a simpler county life

The Hyattsville Post Office, in Prince George's County, Maryland, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On most days, hundreds of people come and go by the post office, depositing their stamped, outgoing letter mail in one of four sturdy, blue U.S. Mail boxes that flank both sides of the post office's front staircase. Then, they disappear just as quickly, going about their daily business, perhaps ducking into Vigilante Coffee around the corner for an espresso drink or a croissant.

However, it's worth slowing down for a just a moment – or three – to go inside the interior of this north-facing, rectangular Colonial Revival building that was constructed during FDR's New Deal Era and discover the rest of the story behind this remarkable, one-story brick structure located at 4325 Gallatin Street. To do so is like stepping back in time into a simpler era of county life during a different century.

One look around the Hyattsville Post Office lobby reveals six murals created by the American Regionalist artist Eugene Kingman (1909-1975), whose en plein style depicts the agricultural heritage of Prince George's Country situated in Maryland's 5th Congressional District bordering northeast Washington, D.C. A cornstalk stripe below each mural ties their composition together.

A large wall plaque dated 1935 honors the beginning of the Hyattsville Post Office building, which was erected "under the acts of Congress of May 25, 1926 and June 19, 1934 and was completed during the administration of Frank D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America."

In researching the history of both the Hyattsville Post Office and Kingman's murals, I learned that they consist of vignettes depicting county life during the New Deal Era of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-37). Among the images are: horses grazing behind a fence, a rural church, frame structures along water with masts of sailboats visible in the distance, and ploughed fields. Several of these murals also reveal the appearance of rural delivery mail boxes in the foreground.

During the New Deal Era, Kingman, a native of Rhode Island, received commissions to create murals for two other U.S. post offices besides Hyattsville. His murals are still on display in post offices in East Providence, Rhode Island, and in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

It should be noted that credit for the architectural quality of the Hyattsville Post Office goes to Fourth Assistant Postmaster General Smith W. Purdum, who was a Hyattsville resident and lived nearby. Purdum spearheaded the engineering and research of the post office building and devoted great attention to its construction as well as to the design and execution of the murals.

Just after 8 o'clock one recent morning, as I stepped inside the Hyattsville Post Office to check my P.O. box for incoming mail – I was the only person inside the building's lobby before the post office windows opened for business at 9 a.m. – I looked around and marveled at both the beauty and artistry of this place and its murals. I tried to imagine what it must have been like when mailing a first-class letter cost just three cents. One thing that I find impressive today is the lobby has retained a remarkable degree of integrity. It has an old-fashioned look and feel, yet it also serves the residents of Hyattsville and the general public who also use it very efficiently.

(Learn more about the architectural detail of the Hyattsville Post Office here.)

Photos: Mural photos by Michael Dickens © 2017. Hyattsville Post Office photo courtesy of Google images.

Grace Cathedral at 50: Defining beautiful architecture

A San Francisco sacred space / Grace Cathedral turns 50 this week.

How does one define beautiful architecture?

"Space has always been the spiritual dimension of architecture," the 20th century Canadian architect and urban planner Arthur Erickson once said. "It is not the physical statement of the structure so much as what it contains that moves us."

Grace Cathedral is the third
largest Episcopal cathedral
in the United States.

One of my favorite spaces in the entire world -- and one that I've experienced many times during the past two decades -- sits tall atop Nob Hill in San Francisco. The vibrant city's famous cable cars pass by it on the California Street side of this sacred space. It's a place that I return to often on Sundays, especially during Lent for Easter Sunday and in the season of Advent to worship on Christmas Eve. 

That space is Grace Cathedral, a place to explore; a place to go deeper in one's faith. It is the third largest Episcopal cathedral in the nation, and this week, Grace Cathedral turns 50.

Each time I climb the staircase that frames the cathedral's entrance on Taylor Street and enter this sacred space, I am moved by the beauty of the cathedral's French Gothic architecture, designed by Lewis P. Hobart; the Ghiberti Doors that are opened for special occasions; and the vaulted ceiling arches. There is much to admire in this exalted sacred space -- and photograph, too.

The Keith Haring AIDS Chapel altarpiece.

There's the lyrical Rose window above the main entrance with its the colorful prism-like reflections of light beaming through it and through the stained-glass windows, bathing the pillars and indoor labyrinth in beautiful colors.

There's the historical aisle murals that were painted by Polish painter Jan Henryk De Rosen between 1949-1950 and composed in a style blending the stylistic elements of early Italian masters Giotto and Mantegna.

And, there's the Keith Haring AIDS Chapel altarpiece.

Colorful prism-like colors beam
through the stained-glass
windows onto the indoor
labyrinth at Grace Cathedral.

Cathedrals have long been places of pilgrimage, and Grace Cathedral is celebrating its past, its present and its sustainable future. Work was begun on the present cathedral structure in 1928 and its completion and consecration took place in 1964. Duke Ellington performed his televised Concert of Sacred Music inside Grace Cathedral on September 26, 1965.

I enjoy worshiping at Grace Cathedral, absorbed by its sacred space, which is defined by the beauty of its art, including its medieval and contemporary furnishings. There's also the echoing sound of the majestic Æolian-Skinner pipe organ; the 44 bell carillon, and the harmonious voices of the Choir of Men and Boys.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Of course, the homilies are meaningful, whether delivered by the Dean of the Cathedral, a visiting theologian, or by a guest homilist such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the anthropologist Dr. Jane Goodall or the playwright Anna Devere Smith.

And, they are always thought provoking, too.

Marcel Proust wrote how "Love is space and time measured by the heart." 

In Grace Cathedral, a house of prayer for everyone, I find solace here each time I visit.

And I know God's generous love awaits me.

To learn more about Grace Cathedral:

http://www.gracecathedral.org/

All photographs by Michael Dickens, © 2014.