Welcome back to Camera Obscura, Curbed's series of photo essays by Nathan Kensinger. This week, a look at the future of the Bronx General Post Office.
When the U.S. Postal Service first proposed selling off the Bronx General Post Office in 2012, the plan was quickly denounced by politicians and protested by the community. The facility, a New York City Landmark completed in 1937, had become a vital part of the neighborhood over the course of several generations, and residents did not want to see it closed down. But the postal service, facing $15.9 billion in debt, was resolved to sell off its assets, and YoungWoo & Associates purchased the four-story, block-long building in 2014 for $19 million. During the past year, most of its interior spaces have slowly been dismantled, with offices, lockers, and mailboxes auctioned off and hidden rooms and catwalks emptied out to make way for a different future.