• City Hall Addition - Santa Barbara CA
    Santa Barbara City Hall was constructed in 1924, after the Santa Barbara earthquake.  In 1938, the Public Works Administration (PWA) funded an addition to the city hall for $100,000.  Work began in late 1938 and continued into 1939.
  • General Hospital (former) - Goleta CA
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked on the grounds of the former Santa Barbara General hospital in Goleta, CA, a sanitarium for tuberculosis sufferers. There may have been other work done on the hospital, as well.
  • Highway 1/101 Construction - Santa Barbara CA
    In 1934, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) financed the construction of the first continuous highway across the city of Santa Barbara (roughly six miles), taking through traffic off city streets.  The route followed the Southern Pacific tracks. Along the new route, Mission Creek was channelized and several new bridges were built. At the time, it was called "the Roosevelt Highway", but was an extension of what was then commonly known as the Pacific Coast Highway.  Although Gibson (1934) attributes the funding to the NIRA, it was almost surely the Public Works Administration (PWA) – which was created as one part...
  • Laguna Ball Park (demolished) - Santa Barbara CA
    "During the dark days of the Depression, Santa Barbara gained more than its share from the Federal program known as the Works Progress Administration...Another local WPA gem, the grandstands, fences and outbuildings that graced the grand old Laguna Park baseball stadium was, in 1970 unceremoniously plowed under to make way for a parking lot for the city’s fleet of buses and administration buildings. ...Designed by the acclaimed local architect Winsor Soule, it was a full-sized stadium built in a small-sized city in 1938. Bigger than Ebbets Field or Wrigley Field, Laguna Park was a place where minor league teams associated with...
  • Laguna Creek Channel and Pump Station - Santa Barbara CA
    "In the late 1930s the City, in conjunction with the Federal government, attempted to solve flooding problem through the construction of a pump station, located at the mouth of Laguna Creek. Constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939, the project also included the construction of a cobble-lined stream channel that extended from the south side of the Laguna Creek Bridge to the mouth of Laguna Creek." The pump station and channel are still operating.
  • Los Banos del Mar Pool and Bathhouse - Santa Barbara CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a municipal pool and bathhouse near the beach in Santa Barbara CA.  This was part of a larger program of improvements of the beach area parks – much of it done by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The bathhouse and pool are still in use as the Los Banos del Mar unit of the municipal pool system. Short & Stanley-Brown describe the project thus:  "The evident thought and care exercised in the design and planning of this municipal swimming pool has resulted in a satisfactory architectural composition. The pool is L-shaped, 50 by...
  • Los Padres National Forest Relief Map - Santa Barbara CA
    A 10 by 12 foot relief map of the Los Padres National Forest was made in 1934 by enrollees of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The map is based on Forest Service and US Geological Survey maps of the area and was intended to be used in support of fighting forest fires. The plaque on the map tells us it was constructed at the CCC Camp at Castella CA near Mt. Shasta. The relief map was first displayed at the California International Exhibition in San Diego in 1935, then installed in the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in 1936...
  • Los Prietos CCC Camp (former) - Santa Barbara CA
    The former Los Prietos Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp was located in the Los Padres National Forest in the mountains behind Santa Barbara CA. Today, it serves as a juvenile correctional camp for boys.
  • Main Post Office - Santa Barbara CA
    The main post office in Santa Barbara was constructed by the Treasury Department in 1936. The lobby contains a set of bas-relief murals and remains in its original condition.  
  • Main Post Office Bas-Reliefs - Santa Barbara CA
    These six sunken plaster bas-reliefs depicting "The Transportation of the Mail" were installed in the Santa Barbara Main Post Office in 1937 by William Atkinson under the auspices of the Treasury Section of Fine Arts.
  • Maritime Museum - Santa Barbara CA
    The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum was constructed as a Naval Reserve Armory by the Works Project Administration (WPA) in 1940-42. In 1939, the City of Santa Barbara deeded the land to the Navy, because city leaders thought that a Naval Reserve Armory would be beneficial to the city. The Armory was almost complete when WW II broke out and construction was stopped. The building was boarded up. Then, in 1942, the City of Santa Barbara leased part of the harbor to the Navy for a wharf and the following year Naval Reservists were ordered to finish the building, which was designated a Small...
  • MG Charles A. Ott Armory - Santa Barbara CA
    "The Santa Barbara Armory, Work Projects NO. 4256, 7013, and 9073, was sponsored by the City of Santa Barbara and constructed for the 2nd Battalion of the 144th Field Artillery, California National Guard. The work involved the construction of a complete armory plant consisting of two units. The main building is a one story ell shaped structure with two wings having a total floor area of 28,790 square feet including the basement. The Gargare Building, the second unit, has approximately 4800 square feet of floor space and consists of one story and a basement.   "The auditorium section of the Main...
  • Mission Creek Channelization - Santa Barbara CA
    In 1934, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)/Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of the first continuous highway across the city of Santa Barbara (roughly six miles), taking through traffic off city streets.  The route followed the Southern Pacific tracks. Along the new route, Mission Creek was channelized and several new bridges were built. Today, the highway is jointly State Route 1 and Interstate 101.  While it seems to follow the route built in the 1930s, it has been altered by subsequent expansions by the state department of highway.  It is not clear what – if any – portions of...
  • Mono Debris Dam - Los Padres National Forest CA
    The Mono Debris Dam was Built by CCC Co. 2928, Camp Mono, in Los Padres National Forest CA, in the vicinity of Santa Barbara. This debris retention dam was built to protect the Gibraltar Reservoir from sedimentation. Gibraltar Reservoir, on the Santa Ynez River is a major source of municipal water supply for the City of Santa Barbara.  
  • Santa Barbara Bowl - Santa Barbara CA
    The Bowl was built in 1936 and was originally intended to serve as an annual performance venue for Fiesta, and now serves as a general performing arts venue for Santa Barbara.
  • Santa Barbara High School Murals - Santa Barbara CA
    Campbell Grant was hired by the WPA in 1934 to paint two murals for Santa Barbara High School: "North America" and "South America." The murals went up in the administrative lobby and have recently been restored. Campbell Grant was the brother of Gordon K. Grant, another active New Deal artist.
  • Santa Barbara Junior High Mural - Santa Barbara CA
    Douglass Parshall was both an artist and a Works Progress Administration (WPA) supervisor. In 1934, he painted a mural for Santa Barbara Junior High School that depicts Olympic sports – no doubt based on his experience at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games.  The mural is located in the school library. It is uncertain who funded the mural, but it was likely the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the predecessor of the WPA. Restoration work was done on the mural in 2011, paid for by the Pearl Chase Society of Santa Barbara.
  • Santa Barbara Veterans' Memorial Murals - Santa Barbara CA
    Two 25' x 8' oil on canvas lunettes by Samuel Vaughan were commissioned by the Federal Art Project: "Men at Work" and "US Army in Europe"
  • Water Filtration Plant and Sheffield Reservoir - Santa Barbara CA
    The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of a new water supply reservoir and filtration plant for Santa Barbara.  Both facilities still exist and still function. Short and Stanley-Brown described the project in 1939: "This project consisted of the concrete reservoir with a capacity of 50,000,000 gallons and the filtration plant with a capacity of 8,000,000 gallons per day from which the filtered and softened water is pumped into the distributing system of Santa Barbara. Monolithic concrete is particularly well done in California and this plant is no exception."