Lakeview Post Office Mural Now has its own Website

Dr. David Baldwin recently wrote to let me know that the The Lakeview Post Office Mural website is up and running.

The site is stocked with beautiful photos, like this one above, called "The Knocker's Cap." The photos give real insight to the rich details of the WPA artwork by Harry Sternberg. The mural was commissioned in 1937 by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

I first blogged about Dr. Baldwin and the mural's restoration in July 2005. I mentioned how fortunate our community was that Dr. Baldwin became the mural's "friend."

I asked if he had any plans for future restorations, but because he was away, his wife, Jane, responded on his behalf:

"Working on that mural project was a magical experience for him. Not only did he work with post office personnel who couldn't get over that a private citizen would undertake this project, but he also met and became friends with mural preservationists, WPA mural lovers, Chicago historians, philanthropists, (I may have missed some others!), and, most rewardingly, the artist, his family, and friends.

Harry was still alive when David started the project, and they communicated by phone and letter. The curator of a retrospective show of Harry's work flew out here for the donors' mural dedication party that we threw with the post office and gave a wonderful speech. The whole project was filled with positive energy in a delightfully unanticipated way.

David has never done anything like that project before, and I'm not ruling out the possibility that he may take something on in the future. It will be hard to top that experience, though."

It's nice to hear that Dr. Baldwin got to reap a little of the joy he sowed.