Sisters of the House (Ford and Longworth)

I apologize for the rather senseless title -- My barren imagination does not permit me to come up with anything cleverer. Anyways, earlier today I visited two more post offices in Washington, DC, namely Ford and Longworth, both located in a House (of Representatives) Office Building on the southern side of National Mall. A short distance away from those famous museums of Air & Space and Natural History, that part of town felt a lot quieter, probably it was a workday afternoon, confining those with more important things to do indoors. Past the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and the post-office-less O'Neill House Office Building, I arrived at Ford a little before 3pm.

The Ford Branch

Front entrance to the Ford House Office Building, a solid-looking but rather charmless product of the efficient New Deal Era

Ford was the third to be built of all five House Office Buildings, in 1939. Unlike its two predecessors -- Cannon in 1908 and Longworth in 1933 -- it did not have a Beaux Arts or neoclassical facade, and unlike its two successors -- Rayburn in 1965 and O'Neill (rebuilt) in 2010 -- it lacked a sleek appeal. But this is to be excused: To accommodate the suddenly increased number of federal employees working on the various New Deal programs, Ford was one of the "General Federal Office Buildings" that valued utilitarianism more than appearance, and was built from scratch in under a year, thanks to some innovative architectural tricks such as mixing concrete in transit rather than on-site. 

The post office, located on the ground floor of Ford

During its tenure Ford housed the Census Bureau, the Office of Price Administration (created in 1941 to oversee rationing) and the FBI, until a growing House took over in 1975. It is now home to its many committees, the Congressional Budget Office, and the Architect of the Capitol (AOC), a peculiar legislative agency that maintains all congressional offices, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol itself. It also runs the Capitol Power Plant, its two chimneys clearly visible from the intersection of Independence and I-395. Why the Architect has not moved its office to a prettier architecture I might never know.

Back to my trip. As a congressional building, Ford's security measures were visibly more stringent than those of, say, the Department of Labor. I conclude so because I was asked to remove my belt, while the DoL guards were kind enough to save me such troubles. As a side-note, the Postal Museum also doesn't take kindly to belts (perhaps worried about people hiding gadgets in there to snatch its Z-Grill or an Inverted Jenny), which is probably the only reason why I don't visit as often as I would like. Nevertheless, past security my road to the post office was unobstructed, and I soon found myself standing in USPS Ford, right across the corridor from a staff cafeteria.

The nice lady offered to step aside for this photo

This station is small, with only one clerk. I deposited my letter in the collection box, waited for another customer to mail his Christmas greeting cards, and went up to buy a few stamps. I really didn't need any stamps at that moment, but thought it best to strike up some conversation with the clerk before snapping pictures around the station like an absolute weirdo. So I did, and asked for the latest "Love Series," featuring on its two variants cartoonish puppies and kittens. That's apparently not how people usually ask for stamps, as the nice lady immediately asked me why I knew exactly what they are called.

The postal store at Ford station

A little embarrassed, I explained that I was on a mission of visiting all DC post offices, and was quite interested in everything postal. She immediately told me about Longworth, her "sister station" that also serves the House, and permitted me to take photos to my heart's content. The back of Ford station also houses a small but cozy postal store, which reminded me of a little piece of history I read about -- once Cannon and Rayburn also had in-house post offices, the latter of which included a more sizable store. Both, plus a third branch located in the Capitol building, were closed in 2013 for "extremely low usage."

The Longworth Branch

From there I marched onward to Longworth, a much better-looking edifice with a similar belt-removing security policy. In fact, the Architect of the Capitol refers to it as "one of Washington's best examples of the neoclassical revival style" buildings, right up there with the National Gallery of Art and the Jefferson Memorial. Personally I would beg to differ, but its interior did pose a striking comparison with that of Ford. While the latter has plaster walls, shopping-mall style tiled floors and rather barren corridors, the former features marble floors, limestone walls and gilded wall-pieces that won't look out of place in an old-timey hotel. An article also talks of "congressional suites with pale blue leather couches [and] walnut desks," though I didn't have a chance to see for myself today.

The Longworth Building from across the street

Entrance to the Longworth post office

However, as the post office in Longworth is located on its basement level, I was able to get a glimpse of the underground tunnels that reportedly criss-cross Capitol grounds. I did not stray too far (although in hindsight I definitely could), but already saw two large cafes, a federal credit union office, several meeting areas and even a congressional staff academy. The Longworth post office itself is next to a narrow ramp leading to the neighboring Cannon Building, a connection as old as Longworth itself, built in 1933 to protect members and their staff from scorching heat in the summer and going up and down flights of stairs in all seasons.

Inside Longworth with other customers

The interior of Longworth station is still pretty cramped, but it seems to be enjoying greater usage than its sister office. This is understandable -- Longworth stands between Cannon and Rayburn, all interconnected, while Ford stands alone, is a good distance away from the other congressional offices, and is sorrily left out by aforementioned tunnels. But this explanation merely (or barely) scratches the surface -- Why did the House side have four post offices (one in each building) before 2013, while the Senate Office Buildings, on the opposite side of National Mall, had (and still have) nothing?

To this I have no concrete answer, merely theories. By all accounts there must be an internal delivery system in and around the Capitol -- A poster in the Longworth station instructs its staff to leave all franking mail (a special class of mail that may be sent out by congressional members and select others for free) in their offices, which I suppose would then be picked up by some special courier. Similarly, "dear colleague" letters, sent from one Representative to another, also must go through some sort of internal mail. A centralized scheme also exists with regard to incoming mail -- all mail is to be inspected at either a designated Acceptance Site or some off-site facility, so it is sensible to assume that such correspondence would then be distributed to their intended recipient by an in-house system. I might do some research and write a more in-depth article on this mechanism later. But for now, with both House branches out of the way, my crusade is about 10% complete.