Federal Building (Laconia, New Hampshire)

Wildlife in White Mountains (1941), Section of Painting and Sculpture mural by Musa McKim

Laconia's former Federal Building is located on the north side of downtown Laconia, on the east side of Main Street just north of its junction with the multiuse Winnisquam Trail. It is a two-story structure, built originally in a T-shape with a frame of steel and concrete. Its exterior is finished with red brick and granite, a stripped Classical Revival style. The main façade is divided into three sections, with a slightly projecting central entrance section. Its three bays are articulated by wide granite pilasters, with additional pilasters at the corners. They rise to an entablature bearing the legend "United States Department of Agriculture", and a shallow pedimented gable. Windows in the outer sections have granite sills, and the building corners have granite quoins.[2]

The structure was designed by Louis A. Simon, the Supervising Architect of the United States Treasury Department, and was built from 1939 to 1940. It was expanded to an H shape with a sympathetic addition in 1966. It originally housed the administrative offices of the White Mountain National Forest, a division of the United States Forest Service and the United States Department of Agriculture. The building's interior reflects this intended use, with a pair of lobby murals on forestry-related themes, executed by Philip Guston and Musa McKim.[2] These murals are now housed in the James Cleveland Federal Building in Concord, New Hampshire.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Belknap County, New Hampshire

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