Terminal Annex

Terminal Annex, or more properly the United States Post Office – Los Angeles Terminal Annex, across Cesar E Chavez Ave. from Union Station in Los Angeles was the central mail processing facility for Los Angeles from 1940 to 1989. Prominent Los Angeles architect Gilbert Stanley Underwood designed the building in an eclectic mix of Mission and Spanish Colonial Revival Styles, with elements of Pueblo and Islamic. The $3 million postal annex opened in May 1940 with 1,632 postal clerks, carriers and laborers responsible for the processing of 2 million pieces of mail per day. At the time of its opening, it was considered “the most modern and efficient” post office in the nation. Eventually plagued by inadequate space and overcrowding, a new processing facility in South Central opened in 1989. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Los Angeles, Los Angeles County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt