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  • Alameda County Road Work - Berkeley CA
    The February 1934 issue of California Highway and Public Works describes federal funding for extensive road work from Oakland to Richmond. When the Key System replaced portions of their lightrail trolley with bus service, federal funds helped with track removal and widening of portions of San Pablo Avenue. The work took place in two units. The first was complete removal of the 20 foot central area of the street from Potrero Avenue in El Cerrito to Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. The second unit covered the widening of San Pablo Avenue through the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and El Cerrito...
  • Aquatic Park - Berkeley CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the mile-long Berkeley Aquatic Park on the bay front south of University Avenue in 1935-37.  It was created as a water park for water skiing, canoeing, sculling and model yacht racing, and is still used for practice by collegiate rowers and for water sports. The park lies between the freeway (Interstate 80) and the former Southern Pacific Railroad tracks (now Union Pacific).  Tidal gates under the freeway keep the water level constant and refresh the basin with water from San Francisco Bay.  The aquatic park project grew out of the Eastshore Highway, a feeder road for the...
  • Berkeley High School: Braghetta Bas Reliefs on Community Theater - Berkeley CA
    The entrance to Berkeley Community Theater on the interior courtyard of Berkeley High School is adorned by two cast stone bas-relief sculptures by Lulu Braghetta. On is female, with "Drama, Dance, Music" inscribed in relief, and the other is male, with "Poetry, Painting" lettered beside the figure.   The panels were paid for by the Federal Arts Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940 but not added to the building until its (delayed) completion in 1950.
  • Berkeley High School: Braghetta Bas Reliefs on G Building - Berkeley CA
    The G Building of Berkeley High School sports a large group of cast stone bas-relief sculptures on the exterior.  The artist was Lulu Braghetta, who worked under the auspices of the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration.  The reliefs were installed in 1940. Building G was originally part of the Industrial Arts and Sciences buildings and the Braghetta bas-reliefs portray scenes pertaining to science and the industrial arts. Some have figures (including one woman) and others are representations of carpentry, electricity, motors, engineering and machining.  They decorate all sides of the building
  • Berkeley High School: Community Theater - Berkeley CA
    The Berkeley Community Theater, part of Berkeley High School, was started with funds provided by the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1941.  The foundation was laid and the street framework erected when World War II interrupted further work in 1942.  It stood like that until it could be finished and dedicated in 1950. The Community Theater is a Moderne/Art Deco-style building constructed of reinforced concrete and finished in stucco.  The design has striking curves and masses, and it is decorated with cast stone bas-reliefs by prominent local artists (see linked pages). The building has three parts: the 3,500 seat Berkeley Community Theater,...
  • Berkeley High School: G and H Buildings - Berkeley CA
    The G and H buildings were New Deal added to Berkeley High School in the 1930s, almost surely funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The origin and amount of funds need to be confirmed, as do the years of construction (they were probably completed in 1940). When they were built, the G and H buildings were known as the Industrial Arts and Sciences buildings, a name still inscribed along the exterior on the west side, Both buildings front on Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, with the H building to the north on the corner of Allston Way.  The H building has...
  • Berkeley High School: Howard Bas Reliefs on Community Theater - Berkeley CA
    Berkeley High School's Community Theater is adorned with cast stone bas-relief sculptures by Robert Howard, son of architect John Galen Howard.  The sculptures are on the exterior side of the building, along Allston Way and facing the Berkeley Civic Center park. The central panel is around 30 feet high and contains a rich group of figures illustrating people of all races coming together through the arts. On each side is a panel of a herald  blowing a trumpet, one male and one female, and the man is apparently African American. The panels were paid for by the Federal Arts Project of the...
  • Berkeley High School: Schnier Bas-Relief on H Building - Berkeley CA
    Jacques Schnier created the impressive bas-relief sculpture, "St. George and the Dragon", that fills a huge space on the west (exterior) side of Berkeley High School's building H (a former Science and Industrial Arts Building), which faces Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The sculpture also contains the inspirational inscription, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The work was paid for by the Federal Art Project (FAP) of the Works Progress Administration, as were the other sculptures on Berkeley High School.  It was mounted c. 1940.  
  • Berkeley Marina - Berkeley CA
    "The actual Berkeley Marina, used by many people who sail on the Bay, was constructed as the Berkeley Yacht Harbor in the late 1930s by the Works Progress Administration in conjunction with its nearby work developing Aquatic Park." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Marina 'The central feature of this park will be a lagoon, large enough for out-board motor races, and with facilities for electric boats, rowboats and canoes. Around the lagoon land areas are being filled in to create a shoreline of bays and peninsulas. Lawns and areas with tables, fireplaces and ample picnic facilities, sheltered from prevailing breezes by shtrub and tree plantings, will...
  • Berkeley Rose Garden - Berkeley CA
    The Berkeley Rose Garden lies on the west side of Euclid Avenue in the Berkeley Hills. It was constructed in the little valley of Codornices Creek, which emerges in a viewing pool at the bottom of the garden.  The rose garden was likely begun by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in 1933-34, as they built the adjoining ball courts.  But the Rose Garden itself was a project of  the Works Progress Administration (WPA), completed in 1940.    "The Garden is designed like an amphitheater with wide stone terraces facing magnificent views of San Francisco Bay. A semicircular redwood pergola, which extends...
  • Berkeley Yacht Club Boat House - Berkeley CA
    The National Youth Administration (NYA) constructed the boat house of the Berkeley Yacht Club in 1939.
  • Berryman Reservoir Improvements - Berkeley CA
    This reservoir was built just south of Cordonices Park in Berkeley by Henry Berryman in 1877. It was still open to the air when the WPA worked on it in the 1930s, but was later enlarged and covered over with cement. It is currently being replaced because of fears that it might rupture in an earthquake.
  • CCC Camp SP-10 (former) - Berkeley CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) established Camp SP-10 in Strawberry Canyon in the hills behind the main campus of the University of California, Berkeley.   Camp SP-10 was home to CCC Company 751 from October 5, 1933 to May 31, 1934. H.C. Merrick was the Commanding Officer. This was an integrated CCC camp, based on photographs of the enrollees. It is believed that the camp was at current location of the parking lot across from the university botanical garden.
  • Clark Kerr Campus Organ Screen - Berkeley CA
    This organ screen was originally built for the California School for the Blind. It is a wood carving with gold leaf and polychrome. It remains in the same location, but the building has since become part of the UC Berkeley Clark Kerr Campus in the 1980s. "In 1936 was hired by the WPA as a senior sculptor, advancing almost immediately to the position of unit supervisor. Working from his shop at Fifteenth and Shotwell, Johnson began producing large scale public art. His first public art project was a twenty-two foot long organ screen for the California School for the Blind...
  • Codornices Park Tennis and Handball Courts - Berkeley CA
    The Civil Works Administration (CWA) built tennis and handball courts at Codornices Park – most of which lies on the east side of Euclid Road and is accessed via a pedestrian tunnel from the ball courts, which are on the west side of the road.  The tennis and handball courts adjoin the more famous Berkeley Rose Garden.  The CWA was the short-lived predecessor (1933-34) to the better known Works Progress Administration (WPA), which constructed the Rose Garden.  It is likely that the CWA began the work for the Rose Garden by creating the semi-circular hollow out of the valley cut by Codornices...
  • East Bay Regional Parks: CCC Camps - Berkeley and Oakland CA
    The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up five camps in the East Bay hills, starting in 1933-34 and carrying on until 1942.  From those camps, the "CCC boys" set out into the newly-created East Bay regional parks to do a wide range of improvements, such as clearing brush, planting trees, building roads and trails, and laying out picnic areas. The first camp was set up at Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Tilden Environmental Education (Nature) Center.  About 3,500 young men rotated through Camp Wildcat Canyon.  As Eugene Swartling, who supervised the camp, recalls, "these young men were not being...
  • East Bay Regional Parks: Clearing and Tree Planting - Berkeley and Oakland CA
    New Deal work relief and conservation crews cleared hundreds of acres of trees and brush and planted hundreds of thousands of trees and shrubs in three of the original units of the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD):  Tilden, Temescal, and Redwood Regional Parks.   This work was part of a major New Deal effort to aid the newly-created Parks District (1934) in improving  its parks for public recreation, direct by the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail.  The natural landscape of the Oakland-Berkeley hills was mostly grassland, with some oak-chaparral woodlands, riparian vegetation and patches of redwood (all of which had...
  • East Bay Regional Parks: Other Improvements - Berkeley CA and Oakland CA
    The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   The New Deal provided extensive aid towards improving the new parks for public recreation, working with the Parks District's first general manager, Elbert Vail. Overall, the New Deal agencies spent roughly $3 million on the East Bay parks, about double the tax funds available to the EBRPD over the same period  (Stein 1984, p. 18) Even before the parks...
  • East Bay Regional Parks: Relief Maps - Berkeley CA and Oakland CA
    The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District in 1936.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   Even before the parks were acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camps in the hills in 1933-34, and they operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42.  A unique contribution to the parks by the CCC helped win public approval for the district's creation. As Gray Brechin notes: "CCC boys at Camp...
  • East Bay Regional Parks: Roads and Trails - Berkeley CA and Oakland CA
    The East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) was formed in 1934 and acquired land for parks from the East Bay Municipal Water District.  The first parks were Tilden, Sibley, Temescal and Redwood in the East Bay Hills behind Berkeley and Oakland CA.   Even before the parks were acquired, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) set up camps in the hills and operated in the parks for the entire New Deal decade, 1933-42. The first camp was in Wildcat Canyon at the present site of the Nature Center. The first road built by CCC work crews was the Loop Road at the center...
  • East Shore Highway - Berkeley CA
    The first East Shore highway along the Berkeley waterfront was built by the New Deal in 1933-34, with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) and relief labor from the Civil Works Administration (CWA). The PWA had financed the Bay Bridge and provide addition funds for access roads to the bridge from the East Bay, including the East Shore Highway. It was "one of the major arterials connecting with the San Francisco-East Bay Bridge," according to a Berkeley Civic Affairs Report of 1933. The WPA built the Berkeley Aquatic Park, which is formed by the causeway carrying the East Shore highway.  A...
  • Frances Albrier-San Pablo Park Improvements - Berkeley CA
    The WPA spread a new loam surface, painted bleachers, and installed playground lights, in addition to improving other playground conditions.
  • Great Stone Face Park Improvements - Berkeley CA
    The WPA re-landscaped and repaired park walks.
  • Indian Rock Park Improvements - Berkeley CA
    Park walks repaired with gravel and oil, re-landscaping done.
  • James Kenney Recreation Center Improvements - Berkeley CA
    The WPA graded and surfaced the volleyball courts, graded and spread a new loam surface at the playground, painted bleachers, the Community House and outside fences, and re-landscaped.
  • John Hinkel Park Amphitheater - Berkeley CA
    Outdoor theater, seating capacity of 350. "The theater was built by the Civil Works Administration (Project Number 5) and was dedicated on 22 April 1934. That same year, the park commission reported that the 'CWA funds not only provided much needed relief to the unemployed, but also gave to the citizens of Berkeley a new means of cultural recreation.'"
  • Live Oak Park Improvements - Berkeley CA
    The WPA repaired the walks with gravel and oil, improved the sprinkling system, and re-landscaped as part of the WPA parks project in Berkeley.
  • Main Post Office Bas Relief - Berkeley CA
    This 3'6" x 4'6" bas relief of limestone located on the outside of the Berkeley Main Post Office titled "Post Office Activities" was created by David Slivka under the auspices of the Treasury Relief Art Project. Man at center is holding a package addressed: "From: D.S. To: All Mankind, Truth Abode on Freedom Road"
  • Main Post Office Mural - Berkeley CA
    This tempera and oil on canvas mural "Incidents in California History" by Suzanne Scheuer was painted in 1936-37 with funding from the Treasury Relief Art Project. Located in the Berkeley Main Post Office. This mural depicts the earliest inhabitants of Berkeley. Scheuer was also one of the artists contributing to San Francisco's Coit Tower mural.
  • Malcolm X School Improvements - Berkeley CA
    Then known as the Lincoln School, this school was improved by the WPA in 1937-1938. In his book on Berkeley and the New Deal, Harvey Smith reports that "Research has not yet revealed what improvements were made, but earthquake safety was undoubtedly on the minds of school administrators" (p. 53).
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center - Berkeley CA
    The Martin Luther King, Jr. Civic Center Building was originally constructed for the federal Farm Credit Administration, an agency created by the early New Deal to provide credit to farmers in difficulty and to stimulate investment in the farm sector. It was built between 1938 and 194o, hence started by the Procurement Division of the Treasury Department (which handled federal buildings at the time) and completed by the Public Buildings Administration in the reorganized Federal Works Administration (most of the same staff transferred over to the new administration in the 1939 federal reorganization). The six-story Moderne-style building was designed by noted Berkeley architect,...
  • Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park Improvements - Berkeley CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided assistance in the landscaping and improvements at Berkeley's Civic Center Park, c 1940-41.   "... the land acquisition and most of the construction costs were covered by a local bond issue of $125,000... Research done when the park was declared a city landmark in the late 1990's indicated that at least two small wall-mounted fountains in the park (north and south of the central fountain) were constructed by WPA employees, although the park project remained incomplete at the onset of WWII. WPA support was also obtained for landscaping, benches, as well as for the acquisition...
  • North Berkeley Branch Library - Berkeley CA
    From the City Landmark sign pictured below: "Well sited in a triangular park, the building offers a harmonious gateway to the surrounding Northbrae neighborhood. It was designed in the Spanish Revival style with a low-pitched red tile roof, central tower, and deeply inset arched windows. The project was funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration and the city. When it opened, civic leaders proclaimed this 'one of the most beautiful public buildings in the City of Berkeley.'"
  • Street Trees - Berkeley CA
    The Civil Works Administration (CWA) planted 10,000 street trees around Berkeley CA in 1933-34 and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) followed with 5,000 more, c. 1938-39.  (Gazette, 3/11/39) According to the city manager of Berkeley, 15,000 flowering fruit trees had been planted by April 1939 (Gazette, 4/4/1939) Street tree planting was a major, if unappreciated, aspect of the New Deal. Determining which trees were planted on which streets is impossible at this point, and most of the trees (particularly short-lived fruit trees) have passed on by this time.  Nevertheless, there are several streets, such as Hopkins Street, where elm, camphor and ash trees of...
  • Tilden Regional Park: Botanical Garden - Berkeley CA
    The Tilden Park Botanical Garden for California native plants was built by the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) with the aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1940-42. The garden was the brainchild of Professor Howard McMinn of Mills College, in 1938.  He knew of an extensive collection of California native plants at the US Forest Service's California Forest and Range Experiment Station in Berkeley, which had been assembled with the help of Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) teams gathering seeds. Under Prof. McMinn's urging, the Forest Service and EBRPD formed a cooperative agreement to create a new botanic garden...
  • Tilden Regional Park: Brazilian Room - Berkeley CA
    The Brazilian Room in Tilden Park began as the Brazil Pavilion at the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay in 1939. The interior wood was used to reconstruct a new building in Tilden Park, using the labor of relief workers in the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It was completed at the present site in 1940 or 1941. The Berkeley Historical Society recounts the building's history: "The Brazilian Room derives its name from its rich hardwood paneling. These walls were once part of the Golden Gate International Exposition's 'World's Fair' famed Brazilian Pavilion, displayed on Treasure Island in...
  • Tilden Regional Park: Golf Course - Berkeley CA
    The Tilden Park golf course was constructed by the the East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD) with aid of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief labor in 1936-37.   WPA workers first uprooted 20,000 eucalyptus from former plantations of the trees in the Berkeley Hills.  Then they prepared the land and laid out the course.  It opened in November 1937. Of the total cost of $173,000, abut $139,000 was paid out of WPA funds. The rest came from the Parks District. The course was designed by William Bell, a nationally prominent golf course architect, who was assisted by Richard Walpole, who later became...
  • Tilden Regional Park: Lake Anza - Berkeley CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of Lake Anza in Tilden Park.  The lake is formed by a dam on Wildcat Creek which flows through the park (apparently, the lake drowned a lovely 9-foot waterfall on Wildcat Creek). Lake Anza was created initially for water supply for the Tilden Golf Course and other facilities, but afterward it was developed for recreation like swimming and boating.  Before the lake could be developed, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) teams cleared vegetation in the  area with hand tools; Guerin Brothers and other contractors, used earth-moving machinery to construct the dam.  Work was completed in...
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