2. Bronx General Post Office

The Bronx General Post Office, located on the Grand Concourse, was constructed between 1934 and 1937 and designed by Thomas Harlan Ellett and Louis A. Simon. The gray brick building almost camouflages into the streetscape but its real treasure lies inside, where there are thirteen murals by Ben Shahn and Bernarda Bryson Shahn entitled “Resources of America.” The paintings were inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem I Hear America Singing.

In one of the panes, Whitman points to a blackboard with a verse from his poem. Originally it was supposed to read – “to recast poems, churches, art; (Recast, maybe discard them, end them – Maybe their work is done, who knows).” However, a Fordham University ethics professor argued that the passage was an “insult to all religiously minded men and to Christianity.” As a result, Shahn took a different quote from Whitman’s poem, likely afraid his work might meet the same fate of an earlier mural he worked on – Diego Rivera’s Rockefeller Center mural “Man at Crossroads.” On your way out make sure to stop by and admire the two pieces of artwork on the buildings facade, “The Letter,” by Henry Kreis, and “Noah,” by Charles Rudy.

Check out 7 other architectural sites along the Grand Concourse