As steel scaffolding and construction tarps currently envelop the Port Townsend Post Office on Washington Street, local passersby may be wondering what’s going on.

The answer is, a whole lot of historic renovations, most of which involve the removal and replacement of 100-plus windows adorning the sandstone structure.

Via email correspondence with The Leader, public relations representative Kim Frum with the United States Post Office discussed the range of repairs, replacements, and renovations currently being done at the facility.

“The scope of the project includes: removing/replacing more than 100 existing historical windows to match current windows in appearance, clean and repair the existing sandstone façade, remove/replace existing gutters to match current gutters in appearance, and restore the existing roof-mounted flagpoles,” Frum said.

The project bid was awarded to Hilger Construction of Pierce County, and construction work at the site is being completed by Performance Contracting Inc. (better known as PCI) in Auburn.

“The project was bid in September 2022 and awarded in November 2022,” Frum said. “Work began in January 2023 and the project has five overlapping phases. Each phase is expected to last three to four months. The estimated completion date is early 2024.”

Frum declined to share the cost of the project.

The post office was built in 1893, when Port Townsend was poised to be a key trading hub in the Pacific Northwest.

The edifice was built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, popularized in the late 1800s and known for incorporating 11th and 12th century characteristics of Spanish, Italian, and southern French architecture styles.

The sandstone structure was the first federally constructed post office to be built in Washington state, and was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1991 as one of the Quimper Peninsula’s oldest and grandest buildings.