I admit that, in architecture, I am an anti-modernist reactionary.

Yes, I acknowledge that “form follows function”, that these ornate buildings cannot accommodate equipment for mechanized mail sorting and cancelling, and that 19th century building designs did not anticipate contemporary needs for plumbing, sprinklers, air-conditioning, and electrical capacity, etc.

Nevertheless, the downtown areas of many cities are disfigured by intrusive, bland, inhuman structures that replaced beautiful buildings.

Like many other cities, Reading saw a succession of post office buildings, and, by the 21st century, post office functions were no longer in the center of the city.

This hand-tinted postcard photograph was made sometime in the 1920’s. 

Addressed to John Wertman in Allentown, the postcard was mailed from Reading on September 8, 1939.

The photograph was made and copyrighted by prolific photographer and publisher, H. Winslow Fegley.

An inscription on the reverse indicates that the postcard was “presented by N. H. Keller” – presumably the sender, in Reading.

According to the legend on the face of the postcard, this post office building was erected in 1889; the annex was completed in 1916.