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  • 125th Street Sewer - New York NY
    The Work Projects Administration undertook a large sewer replacement project with respect to 125th Street in Manhattan. The project was described by the WPA in 1940: "Completed early in 1940. New twin flat-op reinforced concrete sewer, each half ranging from six feet to seven feet in depth and from six feet six inches to eight feet eight inches in width, replacing an antiquated brick sewer. Total length of 3,720 feet, in addition to an overflow chamber, 98 feet long, 22 feet wide and 16 feet 8 inches deep, which was built at the lower end. At the riverfront, the construction includes...
  • 179th Street Sewer - New York NY
    This WPA photo showing a WPA sewer under construction has the following caption: "Engineers take pride in their work. This smiling WPA worker is as proud as his fellow workers and chief engineers as the big job nearing completion in the vicinity  of 179th Street and Highbridge Park. Antiquated and inadequate sewers are being replaced with modern ones - an important adjunct in the plan for improving sanitary conditions in the five boros of New York."
  • 65th St. Transverse Sewers - New York NY
    The 65th St. transverse cuts across Central Park. This WPA photo shows WPA workers developing the sewer system along the transverse.
  • 79th Street Grade Crossing Elimination - New York NY
    The Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) provided fundings for the elimination of a grade crossing involving 79th Street along the west side of Manhattan, with the tracks then serving the New York Central railway. The funding was allocated as part of a much larger grade crossing elimination project involving multiple branches of the Staten Island Railway. Construction at 79th Street was such that the new grade separation structures would integrate with Riverside Drive and the then-new West Side highway.
  • ABC Playground - New York NY
    This small playground on Houston St. between Essex and Norfolk was constructed by the Department of Parks in 1934 as a playground for small children. According to the press release announcing its opening, it originally contained "a shelter house, basketball courts and complete playground apparatus," and was one of 38 new play areas "completely equipped with modern recreational facilities, which have been added to the park system during a period of four months by the new administration.” The playground took on its current name after a major renovation in October 1998. The name "reflects both its location at the northern...
  • Alexander Hamilton Playground - New York NY
    In January 1940, the Parks Department announced the completion of a complete renovation of what is now the Alexander Hamilton Playground: "At the Hamilton Place area, the old playground has been entirely reconstructed to provide for wider and more intensive usage. Besides a new modern comfort station, there is now a wading pool, volley ball and handball courts, a jungle gym, swings, slides and see-saws, The entire area has been resurfaced with bituminous material to provide for continuous usage throughout the year. The opening of these two areas, designed by the Park Department and built by the Work Projects Administration, makes a...
  • Arlington "Ollie" Edinboro Playground - New York NY
    St. Nicholas Park is a long stretch of park between Harlem and Manhattanville, reaching from 127th St. to 141st St. The park contains two playgrounds. The larger one at 129th St., known as St. Nicholas Playground, opened before the New Deal in 1931. A July 1934 Department of Parks press release announced the opening of a second playground at the opposite end of the park near 141st St.. When it opened, the 200 ft. by 60 ft. playground contained an "open pavilion, a comfort station and a wading pool which can be converted into a basketball court, and slides, jungle...
  • Asser Levy Recreation Center Pools - New York NY
    On May 31, 1938, the Department of Parks announced "that plans were being prepared for the renovation of nine public bath houses transferred to them from the jurisdiction of the Borough President of Manhattan." The improvements were to be done "with relief labor under the supervision of the Works Progress Administration and inspected by the Department of Parks." At what is now the Asser Levy Recreation Center, the renovations included the construction of two new swimming pools: "At 23rd Street and Avenue A where there is adequate vacant city-owned land available, a new outdoor swimming pool, 125 ft. long x 50 ft....
  • Audubon Station Post Office - New York NY
    The historic Audubon Station post office in New York, New York is located on West 165th Street, between Audubon Ave. and Amsterdam Ave. It was one of many post offices in Manhattan constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era. The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'M' until its redesignation as Audubon Station on April 1, 1947. The building's cornerstone dates an initial stage of construction to 1935. The building is still in service.
  • Baruch Playground - New York NY
    This park is located on the site of a former tenement and adjacent to what was the first free public bathhouse when it opened in 1901. This and other early bathhouses were built for the sake of public sanitation after Dr. Simon Baruch lobbied hard for new health laws. In 1939, Dr. Baruch's son donated the land for this park to the city at a time when it was still surrounded by tenements, and in order to provide both a local playground and to improve the bathhouse structure itself. The Department of Parks press release from the park's opening on May...
  • Battery Maritime Building Remodeling - New York NY
    The WPA allocated $612,800 in 1935 toward the renovation of the "pier building foot of Whitehall & South Sts." The building in question is most likely what was then known as the Municipal Ferry Pier (built 1906-1909), now known as the Battery Maritime Building. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-427.
  • Bayard Rustin Educational Complex Murals - New York NY
    This building was originally the Textile High School, then the Straubenmuller Textile High School, then the Charles Evans Hughes High School, before eventually assuming its current title as the Bayard Rustin Educational Complex. It is now an NYC "vertical campus" housing several smaller schools. In addition to a pair of stained glass windows by Gerard Recke, the building contains several large WPA Federal Arts Project murals created by various New Deal artists in 1934-36. In a 1965 oral history, New Deal artist Irving Block said of the high school that "there were many rooms available to us for decoration." In the same...
  • Bellevue Hospital - New York NY
    The approximately $5 million Bellevue Hospital was constructed with federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds during the 1930s. The present status of the New Deal structures within hospital complex, which has been extensively renovated, is unknown to Living New Deal.
  • Bellevue Hospital: Amero Mural (destroyed) - New York NY
    In the late 1930s Emilio Amero completed work on the mural entitled  “Tropical and Hudson Valley Vegetation,” for the entrance lobby in the new Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the new building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. It so happens, that the new building for which Emilio Amero painted the mural was also a New Deal project. The building was constructed with the support of the  federal Public Works Administration (PWA). Emilio Amero was a Mexican printmaker and painter who spent much of...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Arenal Mural - New York NY
    In 1936 Luis Arenal and his assistant completed work on the mural entitled  "North American Tropical Vegetation," for the First Lobby Stairway of the new Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the new building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. It so happens, that the new building for which Luis Arenal painted the mural was also a New Deal project. The building was constructed with the support the  federal Public Works Administration (PWA). Luis Arenal was a painter and sculptor born in Mexico in...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Furedi Mural - New York NY
    In the late 1930s Lily Furedi painted the mural entitled "Simple Way of Life" for the women’s large occupational therapy room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital, It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. According to Wikipedia, Lily Furedi began her work as a New Deal artists with the the Public Works of Art Project. When the program ended in 1934, Furedi joined the Federal Art Project under which completed the mural for Bellevue Hospital. The Federal Art Project Photographic Division lists...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Karp Mural - New York NY
    In 1936 and 1937 William Karp painted a mural entitled "Normal Pursuits of Man" for the occupational therapy exhibition room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the psychiatric building at Bellevue Hospital with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. With funding from the W.P.A., Karp also produced the mural entitled "Armed with Learning and Reality, Looking from the Past to the Future" in 1938, for the Hebrew Orphans Asylum, NYC. We know that one of the murals at Bellevue hospital entitled "Materials for Relaxation" by...
  • Bellevue Hospital: laSpina Mural - New York NY
    In the early 1940s Nunzio laSpina completed work on a mural decoration for the ceiling in the lobby of the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. LaSpina was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project (FAP) arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to paint murals for the new psychiatric building at Bellevue Hospital. The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of this mural.
  • Bellevue Hospital: Ludins Mural - New York NY
    In the late 1930s Ryah Ludins painted the mural entitled “Recreational Grounds of New York City” for the men’s recreation room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. It was one of over a dozen murals painted by artists for the building with funds provided by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration. We know that one of the murals at Bellevue hospital entitled “Materials for Relaxation” by David Margolis has been restored. However, The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of the other WPA murals painted for Bellevue Hospital. Ryah Ludins first became interested...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Margolis Mural - New York NY
    "Materials of Relaxation," by David Margolis was one of over a dozen murals that the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration commissioned for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital in the mid and late 1930s. "Materials of Relaxation" is a nine-panel mural located inside the 1st Avenue entrance of the old Bellevue Hospital building. Margolis painted the mural between 1937 and 1941. The New Deal Art Registry lists Richard Lillis and Vincient LaGambino as assistants for the mural project. However, Terenchin Gallery in Hudson, New York lists artist Morris Shulman as a fresco assistant for the project. The panels...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Reisman Mural - New York NY
    In 1936 Phil Reisman was one of over twelve artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. With funding provided by the Federal Art Project, Reisman completed work on the mural entitled "Interdependence of Industry and Agriculture" for the men's therapy room in the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital in the late 1930s. In an article about Reisman's prints for the Charles Marvin Fairchild Memorial Gallery, George D. Bianco writes that "he mural , painted in egg tempera, depicted various American industrial scenes...
  • Bellevue Hospital: Ross Mural - New York NY
    In the late 1930s, Louis Ross completed work on the mural entitled "Cyclorama of Handicrafts" for the classroom in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Ross was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. The Living New Deal needs further information to determine the current status of the "Cyclorama of Handicrafts" mural that Louis Ross painted for Bellevue Hospital.
  • Bellevue Hospital: Tait Mural - New York NY
    In the mid 1930s, Agnes Tait completed work on the mural entitled "Summer Holiday" for the women’s recreation room in the Psychiatric Building of Bellevue Hospital. Tait was one of over a dozen artists commissioned by the Federal Art Project arm of the Works Progress Administration (WPA/FAP) to paint a series of murals for the Psychiatric Building at Bellevue Hospital. We learn from the brief survey of Tait's career on her webpage that she "...produced some of her best-known works during the Depression era including the frequently reproduced painting Skating in Central Park, a set of murals for Belleview Hospital in New York,...
  • Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel - New York to Brooklyn NY
    The Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, officially known as the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, runs under the East River to connect lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. The tunnel was begun in 1940 with PWA and Reconstruction Finance Corporation Funds, though it was not completed until until 1950: "The total cost of the tunnel and the attendant roadways was $105 million. La Guardia knew the city was incapable of financing the project so he dunned the Reconstruction Finance Corporation chief Jesse Jones, a Houston millionaire and Roosevelt confidant, for the funding. La Guardia's hopes of obtaining approval for government assistance were probably based in no small...
  • Bryant Park Outdoor Reading Room - New York NY
    The Works Progress Administration set up an outdoor library in Bryant Park. The "Reading Room" began in 1935 and closed in 1944. Today the park still serves as the site of an outdoor library, opened in 2003.
  • Bryant Park: Dodge Sculpture Restoration - New York NY
    "This bronze sculpture depicts William Earl Dodge (1805–1883), one of the founders of Phelps, Dodge, a leading mining company. Dodge helped organize the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) in the United States and served as the president of the National Temperance Society from 1865 to 1883. John Quincy Adams Ward (1830–1910) sculpted the piece, which was donated by a committee of Dodge’s friends and acquaintances and dedicated October 22, 1885. Dodge is represented leaning on a podium while delivering a speech. The piece originally stood in Herald Square on a pedestal designed by Richard Morris Hunt (who designed the pedestal for...
  • Bryant Park: Shaw Lowell Fountain Restoration - New York NY
    The NYC Parks Department website explains that: "Architect Charles A. Platt (1861–1933) designed this elegant black granite ornamental fountain to commemorate social worker and reformer Josephine Shaw Lowell (1843–1905). Shaw, who is said to be the first woman to be honored by a major monument in New York City, was the first female member of the New York State Board of Charities, serving from 1876 to 1889. The Memorial Committee that worked to build the fountain originally wanted it placed in Corlear’s Hook Park on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, near where Shaw focused her energies. Instead, the fountain, with its 32-foot-wide...
  • Canal Street Station Post Office - New York NY
    The Canal Street Station post office in downtown Manhattan was constructed with federal Treasury Department funds in 1937. It was designed by architect Alan Balch Mills.  The  two story building in the Moderne Style is clad in terra cotta panels,  with a black base, buff walls and a silvery frieze along the top.  A Treasury Section of Fine Arts-funded sculpture was installed in the post office lobby in 1938. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.
  • Canal Street Station Post Office Sculpture - New York NY
    The federal Treasury Department's Section of Fine Arts funded a terra-cotta relief by Wheeler Williams entitled "Indian Bowman" to be installed in the newly constructed Canal Street post office. The sculpture was installed in 1938.
  • Carl Schurz Memorial Restoration - New York NY
    The NYC Parks Department website explains: "This impressive monument to soldier, statesman and journalist Carl Schurz is the result of a collaboration between the distinguished sculptor Karl Bitter (1867–1915) and renowned architect Henry Bacon (1866–1924). Built in 1913, the monument consists of a full standing bronze portrait of Schurz in the center of a granite exedra (curved bench) with carved reliefs framed by two ornamental bronze luminaries. The entire monument is located within a large brick-paved plaza projecting from the promontory at Morningside Drive and West 116th Street. Other studio assistants and associates of Bitter may have worked on the side...
  • Carl Schurz Park: Catbird Playground - New York NY
    An August 1935 Parks Department press release lists what is now Catbird Playground in Carl Schurz Park as one of seventy-three play areas developed in the preceding year with "city, state and federal relief funds." The release describes this park as having play areas designed for mothers and infants and adolescents. The playground was designed by Gilmore D. Clarke and opened on June 20, 1935. It was further renovated in 1965 and 2000. Although neither source identifies which federal agencies were involved, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that New Deal park projects developed before August 1935 would have been financed by...
  • Cathedral Station Post Office - New York NY
    The historic Cathedral Station post office in New York, New York is located on West 104th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam Ave. It was one of many post offices in Manhattan constructed with federal Treasury Department funds during the New Deal era.  The post office was initially known as New York, New York's Station 'H' until its redesignation as Cathedral Station on June 1, 1947. The building's cornerstone, and an interior plaque, put the dates of construction at 1935 to 1937. The building is still in service. Plaque text: This building was erected under the act of Congress dated June 16, 1933 and was completed during the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt,...
  • Central Park Improvements - New York NY
    Central Park was originally established in the 1860s, but New Deal workers carried out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. In addition to the many specific projects listed by name, there were any number of improvements done with the help of the New Deal.  As Frank da Cruz explains,  New Deal funds, labor, and designers reconstructed the park, with thousands of men working in three shifts around the clock in all weather.   They built new walls and entrance markers; removed dead trees and pruned others; plowed, seeded, planted, and revived the landscaping; created new footpath, trails, and drainage; and...
  • Central Park Zoo - New York NY
    The Central Park Zoo was built over the course of eight months in 1934 by workers employed by the Civil Works Administration and, after that program’s demise, by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. It succeeded the old Central Park Menagerie, a once popular attraction that by the early 1930s was so severely dilapidated that Parks Department officials feared its lions and tigers would break out of the rotted wood structures that housed them. Newly-appointed Parks Commissioner Robert Moses set about replacing the menagerie, not with a full-sized zoo, but with what he called a “picture-book zoo”—a smaller-scale facility meant as...
  • Central Park: 107th Infantry Memorial Restoration - New York NY
    The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to restore the 107th Infantry Memorial at 5th Ave. and 67th St. in Central Park during the mid-1930s.
  • Central Park: Adventure Playground - New York NY
    On May 4, 1936, the Department of Parks announced the opening of "three new perimeter playgrounds for children of pre-school age" in Central Park. One, at 68th St. and Central Park West, appears to be what is now known as Adventure Playground. Although the 1936 press release does not mention the WPA or other New Deal agencies, the New Deal transformed much of Central Park in the 1930s. Furthermore, researcher Frank da Cruz explains here that almost all New York City Parks Department projects between 1934 and 1943 were accomplished with New Deal funds and/or labor, and that after April 1935,...
  • Central Park: Alice-in-Wonderland Sculpture - New York NY
    Works Progress Administration (WPA) artist Frederick George Richard Roth, who worked for the WPA as head sculptor at the Parks Department, and who also created several other sculptures in Central Park including the Dancing Goat, the Dancing Bear, and Mother Goose, plus the animal friezes at the Central Park Zoo, created this Alice-in-Wonderland themed sculpture commemorating Sophie Loeb (1876-1926). Sophie Loeb was a writer who advocated for children and for playgrounds in Central Park. Mayor LaGuardia and Robert Moses attended unveiling ceremony on October 2, 1936. The statue was originally created for Heckscher Playground, but was later moved to Levin Playground...
  • Central Park: Arsenal Improvements - New York NY
    The Central Park Arsenal was built 1847-51, but served only briefly in that function.  After 1853, it was a police precinct house, the American Museum of Natural History, a menagerie, an art gallery, the Municipal Weather Bureau, a restaurant, and, finally in 1914, the Manhattan Parks Department. In 1934, the five borough Parks Departments were consolidated into a unified New York City Parks Department. Then, the Arsenal was overhauled by Depression-era relief labor paid for by New Deal programs.    The architect for the project was Aymar Embury II, who was the chief designer for New Deal/Parks Department projects around the city (the Wikipedia entry on Embury says that, "it is...
  • Central Park: Arsenal Murals - New York NY
    In 1935-36, the Arsenal was renovated by the New York City Parks Department using Depression-era relief labor paid for by New Deal programs (WPA and FERA). Afterward, the lobby walls was covered floor to ceiling with murals by Allen Saalburg and his assistants.  Saalburg was the WPA's Director of Murals for the NYC Parks Department.     In the murals, "Saalburg depicted a series of scenes depicting recreational activities, notable park structures, and flagship parks. The project was funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration."   (www.nycgovparks.org) "In 1935, Juliana Force, the director of the Whitney Museum and organizer of the first Federal Art Program in New York, introduced...
  • Central Park: Bridle Paths - New York NY
    Though Central Park was created in the 19th century by Olmsted and Vaux, the New Deal helped the Parks Department carry out massive improvements to the park from 1934 to 1938. Work relief funds and labor were used to construct 4 1/2 miles of bridle paths in the park: one circling the Reservoir, one around the North Meadow and one at the southern end of the park.   (www.kermitproject.org)
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