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Overview

This US Post Office operated from 1903 until 1937, when a new post office opened in a new Federal Building in Salem in 1937. The building was moved to the campus of Willamette University in 1938, where it became reused as the law school the following year. Since 1986, various departments have occupied space in Gatke Hall.

Building History

Supervising Architect for the US Treasury, James Knox Taylor (1857-1929), designed this elegant, eclectic building that served as Salem's main post office for 34 years. Taylor specified Ashland sandstone for the exterior facing, covering a steel frame with brick infill. The interior was well-appointed with elaborate wood trim and polished stone floors. A good amount of money was expended on the dramatic main stairway, with its swirling marble floors and grand wrought-iron railings. It opened for public use on 04/01/1903.

The Old Salem Post Office, moved to the Willamette University campus in 1938, has served several purposes here. Initially, it housed the school's College of Law, and served this user population from 1939 until 1967, when a new, larger legal complex, the Truman Wesley Collins Legal Center opened. Following this, the political science department utilized the elegant facility from 1966 until 1986. During this time, the building was named for Robert Moulton Gatke (1896-1968), the school's first professor of political science, who held his position here for 53 years.

Subsequent to the political science department, other campus entities moved in. In 2017, this included the information technology (IT) department, faculty offices, and a lab for the department of exercise science. The art department has opened a sculpture studio in the basement.

Building Notes

The relatively small building had an eclectic and original array of elements.Taylor specified Ashland sandstone for the exterior facing covering a steel frame with brick infill. It was set on raised foundations, creating an amply lit basement space. By elevating the building slightly, Taylor gave the building a dignified footing, necessitating that all visitors climb a processional stariway to enter it. (In its original location, the visitor had to mount two, spaced-out stairways to enter.) A thick belt course separated the basement story from the first. Rectangular in form, its long axis was sited east-west. Its front (north) and rear (south) facades were divided into three bays, the center being the widest. The north facade had arched windows on the first floor and trabeated openings on the second. First-floor arched windows were trimmed by quoins of alternating length trimming the vertical edges, with alternating voussoirs covering the arch itself. The arches' peaks were graced with graceful volutes. The second-floor's trabeated openings had alternating quoins on either vertical dimension with a large keystone gracing the middle of the top horizontal boundary.

Many public buildings in the US at this time were influenced by precepts of the most eminent French architectural academy of the time, the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, or École des Beaux-Arts, for short, in Paris. For large scale, monumental works with large budgets, teachers at the École suggested use of Neo-Classical stylistic vobaularies. This building, however, lacked the size, scale or budget to justify this expense. It reflected a more personalized and synthetic solution by architect Taylor. Like Regency Revival or French Neo-Classical buildings, Salem's post office had a flat roof with an elaborate cornice. This cornice had enlarged dentils and four pairs of brackets with volutes trimming the end bays. Perhaps most French was the elaborate carved garland work above the main entry. Two out-sized, bronze light fixtures guarded the main entryway on either side. The slightly up-scaled and ornate ornamentation on the building reflected contemporary French tastes.

According to the web site of the the Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project: "Since Gatke Hall is not compliant with the ADA requirements, most of the building is not used for purposes requiring public access." (See Council of Independent Colleges Historic Campus Architecture Project, "Gatke Hall," accessed 03/30/2017.)

PCAD id: 21019