Exploring the Abandoned Spaces Inside the James A. Farley Post Office in NYC

We previously took you off-limits inside the James A. Farley Post Office at the exhibition by Storefront for Art and Architecture. As urban explorers know well, even when you’re shown off-limits places, you know there are even more. The post office, across from Penn Station and the future home of Moynihan Station, supported 16,000 workers at its peak, but less than 200 today. You can imagine just how many abandoned spaces there are inside, a concept explored by the artist Katarzyna Krakowaik in the installation.

After the exhibit, we did our own exploring until a postal worker kindly took us seemingly lost souls back to the main hall, exiting at the quirky Museum of Postal History. Tucked behind the passport section, 99% of people miss this little museum–and not surprisingly, since the easiest way to discover it is through trespassing other areas!

It looks like some other readers took the cue and got even deeper into the post office than we did, infiltrating the very areas that inspired Krakowaik–the spaces for workers that were under observation by the police lookout gallery. Instagram user rysgam submitted all the below photographs to the Untapped Cities photo pool by hashtagging #untappedcities on his Instagram.

Former cafeteria in the post office

All photos by by rysgam. Don’t forget to hashtag your photos with #untappedcities and have your photos featured in the Photo Pool! Get in touch with the author @untappedmich.