When the Bronx General Post Office was purchased by YoungWoo and Associates last year, one of the first things they announced they would work on would be the restoration of the landmarked interior murals—masterpieces from the New Deal Era by Ben Shahn created in 1939.
Earlier this year, after selecting Parma Conservation, LTD, the delicate work of restoring these important works of art began.
Parma Conservation has a a record of conserving and restoring murals in post offices across the country particularly the historically significant New Deal ones such as The Bronx General Post Office.
Whether it’s relatively modern artworks like the 13 1939 murals at the post office or pre-Christian Roman mosaic works, they have the skill and expertise to get the job done right as evidenced by our recent inspection of the murals.
10 of the 13 are complete and now they are working on two of the final 3. They look as of they were just completed and details never before seen by most Bronxites have been revealed.
The process is a complex one when dealing with, not only with the grime of pollution and age, but prior, poor attempts at restoring the original works.
We got a peek at the process on one of the murals as four restorationists worked away during the beginning stages as they carefully clean off the gunk of the ages and then go a bit deeper, removing anything that wasn’t original.
It’s pretty exciting to be able to witness the hard work that Parma is putting into our beloved murals with such great and loving care. These are part of our history which should be preserved for the ages.
This is just the beginning of the process for The Bronx General Post Office which will have its lobby restored to almost look like it did when it first opened its doors in 1937.
Within a couple of years, YoungWoo and Associates plan to have restaurants, markets, offices and a rooftop restaurant or beer garden adaptively reusing an iconic building in our borough.
We’ll have access to places in the building that have been sealed off to the public due to its use as a federal facility as a post office we’re definitely looking forward to the day it opens up.
In the meantime, in order to better serve The Bronx community, YoungWoo & Associates wants to know how YOU Bronx by simply using the hashtag #howibronx on social media.
According to their website, the developer is creating a space which will be a, “Crossroads for Community, Commerce, and Culture” so make sure you get on Twitter & Instagram and let them know how YOU Bronx!
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This post was last modified on January 16, 2017 2:58 pm
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