Representative Alexander Pirnie

Alexander Pirnie served as a Representative from New York in the United States Congress from 1959 to 1973. A member of the Republican Party, he represented his district for seven consecutive terms during a period of significant political, social, and economic change in the United States. Throughout his tenure in the House of Representatives, Pirnie participated actively in the legislative process and worked to represent the interests and concerns of his constituents in New York.

Pirnie’s years in Congress spanned the late Eisenhower administration through the early 1970s, encompassing the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and the beginning of the Nixon presidency. During this time, the nation confronted the civil rights movement, the expansion of federal social programs, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and substantial changes in domestic and foreign policy. As a Republican in the House of Representatives, Pirnie contributed to debates and votes on these and other major issues, helping to shape federal policy during a transformative era in American history. His repeated reelection over seven terms reflected sustained support from voters in his New York district.

Pirnie’s connection to his home region was later commemorated through the naming of a major federal facility in Utica, New York. The Alexander Pirnie Federal Building, a historic post office, courthouse, and custom house located in Utica, Oneida County, New York, was named in his honor in 1984. This designation recognized his years of public service and his role as a prominent federal officeholder from the area. The building stands on a full city block bounded by Broad Street on the north, John Street on the east, Catherine Street on the south, and Franklin Street on the west, on the edge of downtown Utica.

The Alexander Pirnie Federal Building, originally constructed in 1928 and 1929 as the U.S. Post Office, Courthouse, and Custom House, is an excellent example of Starved Classicism, a restrained, simplified form of the Neo-Classical Revival style commonly used for public buildings in the 1920s and 1930s. Rising three stories above a slightly raised basement, the structure is clad primarily in buff-colored brick, with limestone used at the base and at the center of the front elevation. The Broad Street façade, 166 feet in length, is articulated by two-story Corinthian pilasters that divide the elevation into eleven bays and support a full-length entablature inscribed with the words “Post Office,” “Court House,” and “Custom House.” The building’s pitched slate roof, simple cornice, and carefully proportioned classical details distinguish it from the Victorian-era architecture prevalent in downtown Utica.

The interior of the building contains several architecturally significant spaces that reflect the federal government’s emphasis on dignified, durable public architecture. The public lobby, extending across the front of the building, features a terrazzo floor with oriental red and white marble borders, round-arched openings leading to stairways, and wide corridors that connect to the rear portions of the structure. Much of the original postal workroom space retains its historic finishes, including wood floors, bases, wainscoting, and trim, with plaster walls and ceilings. On the third floor, the principal courtroom remains particularly notable for the survival of its original cork-tile floor and furniture. The seventeen-foot-high room is entered through leather-covered doors with obscure glass; its walnut-paneled walls, classical architrave with triglyphs, plaster ceiling with fretwork cornice, and walnut judge’s and clerk’s desks exemplify the building’s formal civic character.

The site on which the Alexander Pirnie Federal Building stands has housed a federal post office since 1882. The earlier building, a two-story red-brick structure with a stone basement and stone detailing, was largely superseded by the 1928–1929 construction, although portions of the original massive stone basement walls and vaults were incorporated into the newer building. The project was authorized under the Public Buildings Act of 1926, which placed responsibility for the design of federal buildings with the Office of the Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury. The Utica building was designed in 1927 under Supervising Architect James A. Wetmore and served for nearly fifty years as Utica’s main post office, custom house, and federal courthouse, becoming a prominent local landmark because of its size, location, and distinctive architectural style.

In recognition of both its architectural significance and its long service as a center of federal activity in Utica, the building—by then named the Alexander Pirnie Federal Building in honor of the former Congressman—was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. It remains in active use as a courthouse for the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York. The continued federal presence in the building, and its preservation as a historic structure, underscore the lasting association between Alexander Pirnie’s congressional service and the civic life of the region he represented.