Fresno Sites

The WPA built the music hall at this high school. This hall still functions as a music classroom, as well as a storage space for textbooks.

"Funds from the WPA were used to construct four buildings and upgrade airfield infrastructure at Chandler Field in 1936-1937. An Administration Building (terminal), Administration Building annex, bathroom building and electrical control building, in varying styles, were added under this campaign. Each building was designed by different architects, most likely to offer employment to as many people as possible for the project. Chandler Field/Fresno Municipal Airport is notable as being one of the most intact WPA-funded airports in the United States." - https://www.fresno.gov/NR/rdonlyres/E7AF14FA-1440-4DBC-9B55-503662716B33/0/HPCNewDealBrochure.pdf "The Administration Building (Terminal and Restaurant) is one story with a small former control tower penthouse on the north elevation....

Fresno CA gained a new City Hall during the New Deal.  It was undoubtedly paid for by the Public Works Administration (PWA), but this needs to be verified. A New Deal Fresno walking tour brochure describes the building: "Fresno's second City Hall was a radical departure from the previous, classically-inspired building, and is an example of how the New Deal brought new forms of architecture to communities across the country. Kump's International style building attracted national attention in 1944 when the Museum of Modern Art included it in an exhibition of the most significant buildings constructed in the United States between 1932...

A New Deal Fresno brochure lists the swimming pool at Frank H. Ball park as being built by the PWA. The playground also received $42,000 for an NYA project to give youth training in building trades. The recreation building plaque shows that it, too, was an NYA project.

  'The building is approximately 170 by 236 feet in over-all dimensions. The auditorium is 100 by 140 feet and is provided with a stage, 35 by 100 feet, and a gallery around three sides. A large foyer, committee rooms, and the necessary services are included in the facilities. The construction is reinforced concrete designed to resist seismic disturbances, and the exterior finish is in concrete. The project was completed in December 1936 at a construction cost of $406,292 and a project cost of $517,903.' - C.W. Short and R. Stanley Brown This Monumental Moderne building with Art Deco details was built by...

The zoo is located in Roeding Park. The zoo's history goes back to 1907. The WPA added the cat barn exhibit and small chain link cages in the 1930s.

The stadium was originally built in 1926, but later improved by the WPA. The archival photo pictured details each feature the WPA worked on at and surrounding this stadium, including new adjacent handball and tennis courts. The WPA work on this stadium was most likely included the 1942 work referred to in the following quote from the stadium's website: "The stadium, originally know as Fresno State College Stadium and renamed for Fresno State's first football coach, Emory Ratcliffe, in 1941, was expanded with a high-rise grandstand on the west side in 1942, boosting the seating capacity to 13,000."   (www.fresnocitycollege.com) This may also...

This building is now on the National Register of Historic Places. The PWA Deco Moderne building was built by Allied Architects, a "Great Depression-era consortium between architects W. D. Coates, Charles H. Franklin, H. Rafael Lake, Ernest J. Kump, Sr., Fred Swartz, and Edward W. Peterson in Fresno, California. Among their buildings were the Fresno Memorial Auditorium and the Fresno County Hall of Records." From the Fresno New Deal walking tour guide: "The Fresno County Hall of Records is considered one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in Fresno, and exemplifies the high quality design of New Deal projects....

This firehouse was constructed by the PWA in 1938: "Constructed in 1938 (the oldest fire station in the Fresno Metropolitan area) and located at 1406 Fresno Street near E Street, Station No. 3 houses an engine, a 121-foot aerial ladder truck, and a water tender (staffed as needed ). Station No. 3 is known affectionately as The Rock by those who work there, (referring to the unique cast in a single block of concrete construction of the building). Station No. 3 has been placed on the State Registry of Historical buildings. Originally built to house 32 firefighters, this cavernous block of...

The Fresno Bee of 10/6/38 reported that Fresnos first New Deal art project was an 8x12 feet historical wall map for the Fresno County Historical Society in the Fresno Memorial Auditorium. Current status to be determined.

This Dutch Modern Administration Building was built in 1936. It is H. P. #53 on the Fresno Local Register of Historic Resources. It was built by Charles Franklin, Ernest Kump Jr., and Alastair Simpson for Allied Architects of Fresno. "Constructed in 1936 with PWA funds, the Fresno Unified School District Administration building served as the district's main administrative offices until 1973. The building is an early example of the International style in Fresno, and the first example of the style in the Civic Center area. Kump followed his New Deal era work with an award-winning career in school and campus design,...

Built by Ernest J. Kump Jr. for Allied Architects of Fresno in 1936. Unfortunately the building was recently demolished.

  This Fresno water tower was constructed by the PWA: "Curved lines and columns form an unusual composition in the modern water tower on the Fresno, California skyline." The tower was located at the corners of Clinton and Del Mar Avenues but was demolished in 1994-95 and replaced with an electrical pump house.

The airfield opened in 1942.

Formerly Fresno's Main Post Office and subsequently its Downtown Station post office, building presently houses the Fresno United School District Education Center. "The U.S. Post Office building housed the main post office branch, as well as Federal courtroom sand offices, until the mid 1970s. The building is an example of PWA or WPA Modern architecture, which combines elements of classical and modern design. Elements of classicism on this building include the fluted, column-like door surrounds and concrete exterior walls scored to look like masonry blocks, while the asymmetrical plan; spare, straight forms; and minimal ornament reflect modern design ideas. The U.S. Post...

In 1941, workers with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Malaga School and the sidewalk in front.

The painted, glazed ceramic tile mural titled "Grape Harvest" was made for the interior of the post office in 1942 by Henry Varnum Poor under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

These two terra-cotta bas reliefs—one of a boy and one of a girl, both standing by a post office box—are about 5 feet tall and made from terra cotta. They are titled "RFD 1" and "RFD 2," and were created by Helen Bruton with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts in 1940.

Artist William H. Calfee created this cast concrete sculpture for the post office exterior in 1940 under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

A poured stone relief of a woman and a set of scales signifying "Justice." Approximately 10' high x 5' wide x 1' deep. The sculpture was created in 1940 by Archibald Garner with support from the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.

Built by the WPA and now abandoned.

In 1939 the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) built the Riverside Golf Course and clubhouse, as well as an adjacent swimming beach and playground in Fresno. "Riverside Golf Course was designed by Billy Bell and built in 1939 as a WPA project. This parkland-style course along the San Joaquin River, features expansive tree-lined fairways stretching over gently rolling terrain, a new lake bringing water into play on four holes and very small greens." - https://www.bestarticle.org/travel/championship-caliber-golf-in-fresno-ca/?expert=Carl_Spackler_II Prior to the construction of the WPA course, a 9 hole course, built in 1926 as a private club by several wealthy farmers, existed in the spot where Riverside...

The PWA built sprinkler and sewer systems in the park in the 1930s. The WPA built a long rustic stone wall around the park.

Washington Union High School in the small Fresno County town of Easton received $45,000 for the building of a new gymnasium in 1940.

Once known as the Wish-I-Ah Healthcare & Wellness Centre, this nursing home was built in 1928 as a sanatorium for tuberculosis by Fresno County and was sold to become a private care center for the aged when T.B. virtually disappeared in the 1940's. The WPA got involved in February 1936 by hiring a "graduate nurse from relief roll to assist Supt. and Medical Director of Wish-i-ah Sanitorium, to assemble data and keep records pertaining to tuberoulin as a diagnostic measure." WPA project 0412-345 $525. The WPA also engaged in construction work "on Co. Rd. to Tuburcular Sanatorium near Auberry. To improve...

"The still-vivid Works Progress Administration concrete stamps on the sidewalks around Fresno's second City Hall pay homage to the breadth of New Deal-era projects in Fresno, and the contribution the WPA made to improving city infrastructure."