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Federal Building
Morse Federal Building
Lowell Post Office
Built 1930
Federal Building circa 1930 Federal Building 2003
Building History:
Built in 1930, the former Lowell Post Office is a distinguished example of Neoclassical architecture constructed as a Works Progress Administration project. The building was designed by one of Lowell’s only native architects at the time, George Augustine Daidy.
The site was purchased for the post office in 1929 and the existing storehouse demolished. Construction began in August of 1930 and the building opened in January 1932 after transferring postal operations from the former location at 89 Appleton Street, the present day Juvenile Court. The building is faced in gray granite on the front and sides to the tops of the columns. The entablature and balustrade are of matching gray terra cotta. The round-arched first floor windows, rectangular second story windows, quoins, and balustrade reflect the Colonial Revival style, while the central Doric portico and full entablature are characteristic of the Neoclassical revival.
The building has been home to a variety of federal agencies through the years in addition to the postal service including the IRS. It has also housed at various time a Veteran’s Administration clinic and the FBI.
Preservation and Reuse:
Middlesex Community College acquired the building for $1 from the federal government in 1996. Renovated at a cost of $11 million under the supervision of the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, the state paid two-thirds of the cost and the college contributed one-third.
The building’s lobby has been restored to its original elegance with an enclosed bronze entryway, mosaic marble floors, and marble walls. The remainder of the building has been renovated and modernized to accommodate various needs of the college. The campus library occupies most of the building’s main floor where a 100-person assembly hall is also located. Upper floors include classrooms on the second floor and faculty offices in the former FBI offices on the third.
The building was renamed the F. Bradford Morse Federal Building in honor of the late Lowell congressman Frank Bradford Morse (1921-1994), who was born in Lowell and served on the Lowell City Council after service in the army during World War II. He went on to serve on Capital Hill and had a distinguished career in the United States Congress and the United Nations.