Volunteers Needed To Serve As Guides For Historic Downtown Post Office During Centennial Celebration

More on the post office/museum courtesy of the city's website. Some of the employees at the museum have taken to calling it the "Post Modern".

As part of the city’s upcoming Centennial, the city is looking for volunteers to serve as museum guides for the historic downtown post office. The city is now accepting applications for volunteers interested in giving tours of the building during the months of May, June and July. Architects, historians, artists, graduate students, educational professionals as well as experienced museum guides and those with a passion for local history are encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will attend weekly classes and training sessions during March and April including lectures by local historians and preservation experts.

Applications are due by February 28. Those interested in becoming part of the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse Post Modern docent team and would like to receive an application form, can contact Kim Jones at the city of Las Vegas at 229-4739.

These museum tours are one of the many civic and public events scheduled for the building during the Centennial celebration.

The city recently marked the closure of the post office with a ceremony to recognize the longtime employees and box holders. Last year, the City Council approved a plan to turn the historic building into a cultural center complete with exhibition space and programming focusing on the city’s colorful and complex social, political and aesthetic history.

The National Register-nominated facility, located just west of City Hall, is touted by experts as the most refined and best preserved of the city’s Depression-era architecture and is considered a regionally important example of neoclassical public architecture. Much of the interior has retained original features and decorative ornament. Improvements to preserve the structure are planned and will conform to federal standards for the treatment of historic properties.

The city contracted with Chattel Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Inc. to conduct a study on the most appropriate reuse of the building. As part of the study, the consultants interviewed more than 140 people from throughout the community   involved in government, arts, history, tourism and related fields.