Property Record
129 N WALWORTH AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Williams Bay Post Office |
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| Reference Number: | 239942 |
| Location (Address): | 129 N WALWORTH AVE |
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| County: | Walworth |
| City: | Williams Bay |
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| Year Built: | 1965 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 2019 |
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| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | 2019: This one-story, Contemporary-style post office building was built in 1966. It has brick veneer and a low-pitched front-gable roof with asphalt shingles and metal coping. The wide overhanging eaves have wood fascia boards, soffits, and exposed rafter ends. Fenestration includes tall fixed-over-awning windows with brick sills on the front (west) facade and on the rear (east) elevation. A rectangular panel is located beneath each awning window on the front facade. The main entry, which consists of fixed glass and aluminum windows with a single glazed entry door, is located on the south end of the front facade. Metal lettering reading, “UNITED STATES POST OFFICE WILLIAMS BAY WISCONSIN 53191” is located on the north end of the front facade. A loading dock with a cantilevered roof protrudes from the side (south) elevation. A small parking lot is located to the front of the post office, with a flagpole standing at the northwest corner of the building. According to the History of Walworth County Wisconsin, the first post office in Williams Bay was established in 1892 and was located on the current site of the Williams Bay Fire Department building. Between 1918 and 1966, the post office operated out of a building at the northwest corner of Walworth and Geneva Street. The current post office building was constructed in 1966 as development of the town expanded north along Elkhorn Road. In the mid-twentieth century the federal government encouraged the use of Modern architecture for postal buildings. Because of this, there are approximately 30 Contemporary-style post offices in the Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Ginny Hall, “Walking Around Williams Bay” (The Friends of The Lake Geneva Public Library, 2008), Wisconsin Historical Society. Albert Clayton Beckwith, “Williams Bay,” in History of Walworth County Wisconsin, vol. 1 (B.F. Bowen & Company, 1912), https://www.wisahrd.org/AHI/Properties/Primary.aspx?id=82572; Hall, “Walking Around Williams Bay.” URS Group, Inc., USPS Nationwide Historic Context Study: Postal Facilities Constructed or Occupied Between 1940 and 1971 (United States Postal Service, September 2012), http://preservation.lacity.org/sites/default/files/USPSNationwideHistoricContextStudy_PostalFacilitiesConstructedOrOccupiedBetween1940and1971.pdf. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |