San José City Landmarks

Originally built in 1892, the Old Post Office was the first federal building constructed in San José, and was used as a post office until 1933. Its exterior is made of sandstone, which is locally extracted from the Goodrich mines (these mines also sourced the stone for the Stanford University Quadrangle). It features rounded arches and a clock tower. After the 1906 earthquake toppled it, the clock tower’s steeple had to be rebuilt in 1908. At that time, Nels Johnson constructed a three-faced clock, which is only one of five Nels Johnson clocks to be known in existence. It is powered by gravity and utilizes 500-pound weights with cables, which have to be cranked every three or four days. After the building’s post office days, the interior was remodeled by architect Ralph Wycoff. In 1935 it was sold to the city of San José and used as a library until 1971, which is when it became an art gallery. The site the Old Post Office stands on was San José Chinatown from 1860 until 1887, when the area was destroyed by fire.