Alexander Pirnie Federal Building, Federal building and courthouse in Utica, United States.

The Alexander Pirnie Federal Building occupies a full block bounded by Broad, John, Catherine and Franklin streets. The three-story building is clad in buff brick with a limestone base and center front, and its Broad Street facade is divided into eleven bays by two-story Corinthian pilasters. The third floor is U-shaped, with the courtroom at the end of the west wing.

The site has held Utica's post office since 1882, when a two-story red-brick building with a stone basement went up. The 1928-1929 replacement was authorized by the Public Buildings Act of 1926, which put design in the hands of the Treasury Department's Supervising Architect. The 1927 plans called the project an enlargement and remodeling, yet only the old basement's massive stone walls and vaults survive. It was named for Congressman Alexander Pirnie in 1984 and listed on the National Register in 2015.

The third-floor courtroom retains its original cork-tile floor and walnut furniture, including the judge's and clerk's desks with applied classical detailing. Leather-covered doors with obscure glass open into the seventeen-foot-high room, where walnut panels sit between pilasters beneath a plaster fretwork cornice.

The building fills the block between Broad, John, Catherine and Franklin streets, with its main entrances at the two ends of the Broad Street front. An elevated viaduct runs along that side, so approach on foot from the downtown core. It is an active federal courthouse and post office; public areas such as the terrazzo lobby are reachable during business hours, but courtrooms and offices are not open to casual visitors.

The building was named in 1984 after Congressman Alexander Pirnie, who drew the first capsule for the Vietnam draft lottery in 1969. This connection links the structure to a pivotal moment in American history.